The First Awakening
by gladdecease
Summary: This is the story of two friends who are tied to an unexplained mystery...and to each other. No matter what keeps them apart, they find each other. Even in Sootopolis City. Slight AAML. AU.
1. Rocket Attack, Badge Argument

Welcome to a story. The story of an e-mail, a gym battle, and the reuniting of two old friends. But these friends aren't any normal people. They have a destiny that they are blissfully unaware of. This is the beginning of that destiny; the beginning of a dangerous, possibly deadly journey they must undertake to fulfill their destiny. This is:

_The First Awakening  
_  
**Chapter 1**

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* * *

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A small band of travelers walked down the dusty trail. Two of the humans had rather bored expressions on their faces, while the other two seemed positively elated. Of the two moping boys, one was noticeable younger than the other. He wore mainly green, his green running shoes scuffing the dirt on the road and sending up a cloud of dust. He looked as though his deep yellow backpack was weighing him down considerably by the way he was slumping over, his black-rimmed glasses almost falling off his nose. The other glum looking fellow had a brown, orange and green outfit on; by the look on his face, you could tell there was a long story behind his tight-shut eyes as to why he was so morose. His blue and white shoes were practically hoeing the path; a farmer could just come along, plant some wheat in the trenches, and his fields would have two straight lines.

The other two trekkers were almost complete opposites of our first two characters in mind-set. One was a teen boy clad in blue, except for a black hat with a green Pokéball design, and a pair of black and green fingerless gloves that were holding a small polished and painted piece of metal out in front of him. He was obviously in high spirits about it. The last human member of our group, and the only female, stood just behind him, decked out in red, white, and navy blue. As she laid a hand on her hips to get a better look at what she held in her hand, she brushed against a yellow fannypack resting lazily on her waist. She was looking happily at a smaller piece of metal than the one belonging to the boy, polished and shining in the bright daylight. Glued to the back of the metal was a silk-like ribbon tied into a bow. As the two gloomy boys looked on, the two cheerful ones jumped into the air, shouting praises for themselves.

"Yahoo! My fifth ribbon!"

"And my eighth badge!"

"I can enter the Hoenn League!"

"I can compete in the Grand Festival!"

"Hooray!" The youngest boy looked up at the brown haired man beside him, squinting through the glare the sun made on his glasses.

"What's got them so happy?" The older teen smiled down at the boy.

"Oh, they're just excited, Max. And you can't blame 'em. They've come a long way, and now they've as good as reached their goals. It's alright for them to celebrate a little." The boy we now know to be called Max shrugged.

"I guess you're right, Brock. But don't you think they could at least stop celebrating long enough to head in the right direction?" The young man we now know as Brock looked in the direction Max pointed. The two overly-cheerful members of their group were jumping and bouncing of into the distance on the left fork of the path that split shortly ahead of where Max and Brock were at the moment. Brock quickly grabbed a small yellow device out of Max's hands, pressed a few buttons, and peered at the screen. He tossed it back to Max and raced down the path the trainer and coordinator were jumping down.

Max scrambled tokeep the Pokédex fromhitting the ground as Brockcalled out to the others, saying,"May! Ash! You're going the wrong way!" Upon hearing of this sudden turn of events, the boy fell flat on his face. A yellow, mouse-like Pokémon rushed over to his side, crying its name softly. The boy got up, reassured his Pokémon, and dusted off his hooded vest and its double sided pocket. When he looked back at Brock, the girl was already there, and they were both waving impatiently at him to hurry up.

"C'mon, Ash! We haven't got all day!" Ash waved at his friends, then raced his Pokémon over to them. When he won the raced, it playfully shocked him with an low powered-electric charge. They got back to where Max was and started down the right fork of the path, hoping to reach a city before nightfall. Soon enough, they had to sit down to lunch, and the conversation eventually wound up at the items in May and Ash's hands.

May looked at her ribbon happily. "Wow. My fifth ribbon. I can't believe I finally got it! It was really hard to win this ribbon, but I think I really earned this one." She looked up at her traveling companions, her eyes shining. "Now, it feels like it'll be a piece of cake to win the Grand Festival! I can't wait!" Max slid up next to her and looked at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah...unless you have to battle _Drew_ again." May turned to Max, flustered, and starting crying out bold challenges against the green-haired coordinator, declaring her obvious superiority to him in all ways. Max seemed to doubt her, and provoked her so much on this topic that she began to chase him around the campsite, now crying threats towards her sibling. Brock smiled fondly at the two and muttered something about the old days. He then turned to Ash, who was so absorbed with his most recent badge that he had not noticed the conversation around him, and was ignoring the confrontation of siblings that was circling him.

"What about you, Ash?" The breeder wondered. "How did this water Pokémon gym match up to…_her_?"

Ash chuckled. "Well, I can tell you one thing," he said. "Adan was certainly a lot nicer than _her_. And what a battle he gave me!" He held up his Rain Badge so that it would reflect the light, then sighed happily. Max paused for a moment next to Ash, panting from the sudden physical exercise he was experiencing as he joined the conversation momentarily.

"They were awesome battles, Ash." The Pokémon fanatic commented breathlessly. "Adan's Sealeo and Seaking made a powerful team during the double battle, and Luvdisc, Whiscatch, and Milotic, made a really powerful team for the three-on-three"

"Yeah, well…Pikachu, Snorunt, and Corphish took care of the doubles round no problem, and Grovyle, Swellow and Pikachu did great in the three-on-three, even with Milotic using Recover all the time." Ash said, brushing aside the comment as if he was already Pokémon Master, and lowly gym leaders were no challenge. May skidded to a stop and placed a hand on her hip, furrowing her brow in frustration.

"Won't you ever admit that a gym battle was actually challenging, Ash?" May questioned angrily, bothered that her friend would act so annoyingly superior, especially when he normally was so humble.

"Why should I if they never are?"

"I know quite a few gym leaders that would contradict you on that statement, Ash. Myself included." Brock argued.

"Name one, besides you." Ash challenged, upset that Brock would try to ruin his moment of glory and pride.

"I'll name five easily: Sabrina; Lt. Surge; Brawly; Erika; and _her_." Brock proclaimed. Ash sweatdropped.

"Okay...so I have lost once in a while...but not always! And I didn't lose to her!"

"Right...you just didn't win. Just like you didn't win against me, or Sabrina, or Erika..."

"Oh, be quiet, Brock."

"Was Ash just given some of his badges?" Max wondered disbelievingly. Brock answered for Ash.

"Well, Ash battled me with only Pikachu. I was a rock gym leader. You can imagine how it went." He explained. "He lost the first time. The second time, he battled with Pikachu again, and this time a Thunderbolt's sparks set off a fire alarm, which soaked Onix through. Even though Onix was vulnerable to an attack, Ash forfeited. I considered it to be such a noble thing to do that I gave him the badge. I thought he deserved it, after all he'd done."

"Oh...I don't think that would be fair...but that's your decision, I suppose...So who was _'her' _?" Max asked, making quotes with his fingers as he spoke.

"Yeah. Where did _'her' _come in to this story?" May asked, her curiosity piqued as she also made quotes in the air with her blue and white gloved hands.

"She was the second gym leader Ash faced. They had a two-on-two battle, and she won the first round: Butterfree vs. Staryu. The second round of Pidgeotto vs. Starmie was interrupted by Team Rocket, so they never finished the match. The other gym leaders of that gym gave Ash the badge for saving their gym."

"Was it the Cerulean Gym?" Max asked, confused.

"Yep." Brock confirmed.

"The Water Pokémon gym of Kanto?" Max questioned.

"The one and the same."

"Why wouldn't Ash use Pikachu?" May queried. "Wouldn't it have won easily?"

"It would be the most logical choice." Max agreed.

Ash suddenly spoke up. "Pikachu refused to battle a friend. It wasn't as obedient back then as it is now. Right, Pikachu?" Said Pokémon rubbed the back of its neck, embarrassed as to how silly it had been as a youngster.

"A friend?"

"So you _knew _the Cerulean Gym leader?"

"Yeah..." Ash became quiet again, apparently deep in thought.

"So, which one did you know?" Max asked, his curiosity piqued.

"How many are there, Max?" May asked, curious. Ash and Brock had spoken briefly of a girl they traveled with for a long time before coming to the Hoenn region, and if this was the girl...well, who knew? Maybe they'd meet someday. She wanted to know who this girl was.

"There are three: Daisy, Violet, and Lily Waterflo - "

"Four."

"What?"

"There are four Cerulean Gym leaders, not three"

"That's not what the Pokénav says in its gym leader database as of last year - "

" - well, it's wrong!" Max backed up, startled by Ash's sudden outburst.

"Okay, okay Ash...if you say so..." Ash was looking angrily at Max. You could almost say he was glaring at the young Pokémon enthusiast, which was a first experience for Max from this pretty even-tempered Pokémon training friend of his.

"Pikapi..." Pikachu said, trying to calm Ash down. "Pichupi chu Pichapi pi chu Pikachupi...pi chu pika." Ash relaxed a bit.

"I know, Pikachu. It isn't their fault. I just get upset when people talk like that about her...like she doesn't count. You know that. And you do too, Brock." Ash turned towards his breeder companion.

"Hey, man...I didn't know you were so protective of her behind her back...you certainly weren't like that when we traveled with her..." Brock almost snickered, but not quite. It was more of a snort of suppressed laughter. "What's happened to cause this sudden change in attitude?" Ash flushed.

"...be quiet, Brock." He cleared his throat. "What's the closest town, Max?"

Brock looked over at his Pokémon trainer friend. The conversation topic may have been changed, but something was up with Ash. He refused to actually say what had happened to him, but something most definitely had happened before Brock had returned to travel with him. It was almost like...he didn't trust Brock with his secrets anymore.

Before long, the group had decided to travel back towards Sootopolis City for a short visit, as it was the fastest way to both the Grand Festival and the Hoenn League. They found a ferry that was headed towards the island Sootopolis City was located on, and ordered themselves tickets through the Nurse Joy at Pacifidlog Town, where the ferry would ship off.

And Ash still didn't speak much...

* * *

A week later, the group had stopped for the night in a clearing by the roadside, on their way to Pacifidlog Town. According to Max, they should be within a day's walk of the town; less, maybe. The embers of the fire from dinner were glowing very weakly. All the sleeping bags were filled, and the soft sounds of sleeping people resounded through the night. All was still, with the exception of rising and falling chests of those deep in sleep. All but one, that is.

Ash sat up in his sleeping bag, looked around to make sure that no one was awake, then took something out of his hat. He unfolded the object and rubbed its cloth between his fingers while he looked up at the stars. After a few minutes, he couldn't ignore the cloth in his hands, and held it above his head, letting the glowing coals shine a feeble amount of light on the pink and red hues of the square of cloth. He sighed deeply, looking at the handkerchief with a bemused look on his face. _What did she mean?_ Ash rolled over in his sleeping bag to face Pikachu in the miniature sleeping bag beside him. "I'm so confused," he breathed, holding up the handkerchief. "What do _you_ think she meant?"

"Ash?" Ash half jumped up in his sleeping bag, quickly hiding the handkerchief back inside his hat.

"Prepare for trouble!" A menacing voice said menacingly.

"And make it double." A slightly less menacing voice rhymed in a slightly less menacingly way.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie."

"James."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meowth! That's right!"

"Team Rocket!" Ash, May, Max, and Brock shoutedright on cue. They looked up at the hot air balloon that contained three of the most evil people they knew of.

"Pi pikachu!" Added Pikachu.

"Do you mind?" May grumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "We were trying to sleep..." Team Rocket almost facefaulted, but became very angry.

"How dare you!" Jessie shouted, her magenta hair-covered head twice as big as normal.

"You cannot simply schedule a Team Rocket attack!" James added, shaking a white gloved finger at the teens.

"Yeah, 'specially when we worked so hard tinkin' up a dis plan!" Meowth held up a giant rubber hand connected to a giant coiled spring.

"Didn't they use this one before?" Brock whispered loudly to Ash. Team Rocket overheard and almost fell over.

"This is a new plan!"

"We worked really hard thinking up of it...right, Meowth?"

"Yeah, we worked hard tinkin' it up, jus' not recently." Jessie and James half-fell out of the balloon, only barely hanging on to the side of the basket.

"Now it's hello Pikachu" - the hand grabbed Pikachu - "and good-bye, twoips!" As Meowth finished his statement, Team Rocket managed to climb back into their Meowth balloon and began to fly off, yelling to Meowth about being original.

"No! Pikachu!" Ash shouted as he began to run down the path near their campsite. Brock, Max, and May followed suit, Max grabbing Ash's backpack as he passed it. They soon came upon a large body of either fresh or salt water. Team Rocket's Meowth balloon continued across it, the criminals aboard it cackling in glee at their apparent victory. Ash dove into the water and swam after them. Brock called out Mudkip and Max found Corphish's Pokéball. Brock started swimming after Ash, while Mudkip and Corphish helped Max and May travel through the choppy waters. May swallowed some of the water accidentally and immediately spat it out. _Definitely _salt water. Thankfully, land was soon in sight. By the time May and Max were on shore, Brock was kneeling on the beach, panting slightly. Ash, equally exhausted, was driven on by his need to save Pikachu. He reached for his Pokéballs, but discovered to his dismay that he had left them in his backpack at the campsite. He continued calling out his electric Pokémon's name, though there was practically nothing he could do to save it.

Once May was dried off, she was ready to get to work. "Let's go, Bulbasaur!" May shouted, throwing a Pokéball. Out popped a blue-green Pokémon holding a flower. "Razor Leaf!" Bulbasaur let loose an incredibly sharp leaf that cut through the spring holding Pikachu captive. This caused Pikachu to fall out of the balloon and straight into Ash's arms. They tumbled down a small hill and into a small pocket of earth shaped to easily fit a person lying down.

"Okay, Pikachu," he said, releasing his electric buddy from the glove it had been held captive in. "Thunderbolt!" Pikachu complied, and the Meowth balloon exploded with a bit more of an impact than normal, sending Team Rocket flying.

"Look's like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

"Great job, buddy," Ash said, rubbing Pikachu's fur. He looked back towards the top of a small hill, on which May and Bulbasaur were standing. "You guys did good, too!" Ash shouted to them. May seemed to have not heard Ash, because she continued to look around, as if she was searching for someone. Soon Brock and Max joined her on the hill. She talked to them, and they began looking as well, all thoughts of sleep forgotten.

"I guess they can't see us," Ash noted, rather observant for once. He turned around.  
"Well, we could always go into the town over there, Pikachu," he said, pointing towards the lights up ahead. "They might have a Pokémon Center we can spend the night in, and we can wait for Brock and the others to find us there. It's better then spending a night out in the cold..." He looked down at his yellow mouse Pokémon friend. "What'd'ya say, Pikachu?"

"Pika pika."

"Well, lets go!" The Pokémon and trainer headed off into the night, hoping to find some shelter at a familiar place.

* * *

This may be my first story in quite some time, but I think I've got it off to a good start. Please review now that you've finished reading; suggestions are always welcome, and I'm quite open to criticism. Jaa, mata!

gladdecease


	2. An Old Friend, Misty Remembers

_The First Awakening_

**Chapter 2 **

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* * *

**

Ash opened his eyes, then immediately shut them again. The light was positively blinding after what had happened last night-whatever it was. Ash couldn't remember at the moment. At first, he couldn't remember where he was, but it suddenly came back to him.

Team Rocket attacking.

Getting separated.

Coming here, to the Pokémon Center.

Getting a room.

And, most recently, going to sleep.

Slowly, the black haired teen opened his eyes again, rubbing the exhaustion from them. He sat up and looked around. "Pikachu?" He asked the room. A yellow Pokémon hopped onto Ash's bed from the end.

"Pikapi!" Ash smiled, relieved that his starter Pokémon was safe. He rubbed the top of its head fondly.

"Have Brock and the others come yet?" Pikachu's smile turned down, and it looked away. Ash frowned as well. "Guess not. Well, we can always visit Adan, maybe take in a show..." Pikachu brightened.

"Pikapi, Pika-a pi kachu. Pi cha-a pi chu-u pika." Ash scratched the top of his head as he tried to translate Pikachu's language.

"You're saying Adan's not here anymore? And there are...two others we know that're here instead?" Pikachu nodded. Ash scratched his head; this wasn't getting any easier to figure out. "Someone else? Who else do we know in Hoenn?" Pikachu seemed too excited to answer. Instead, it prodded Ash's back, forcing him out of bed. Then it nudged him towards his backpack, opened it up, and pushed Ash's clothes towards him. Ash laughed at Pikachu's over-eagerness.

"Okay, Pikachu, okay! I'll get dressed! Just as long as you don't force me..." Ash trailed off. Pikachu got a glint of mischief in its eyes. Ash's eyes, on the other hand, widened with fear. "You couldn't..." He started. "You wouldn't..._AAGH_!" Apparently, Pikachu could, and would.

A few minutes later, Ash stumbled out of the room, fully dressed, but slightly charred. He handed Nurse Joy the key, and asked her to keep a lookout for Brock, Max, and May. With Pikachu leading the way, the duo headed out the door, down one street, up the next, and made a left so they were right in front of a large building. Ash looked down at Pikachu.

"_This_ is where the person we know is?" He asked, unsure. Pikachu shook its head in the affirmative, they continued inside. To Ash's surprise, the building was actually a gym. "It's certainly not Adan's gym...this place is no mansion." Pikachu rolled its eyes and dashed inside the main area. Ash followed through the double doors, and stood still, right in the doorway. The room had three different battlefields; a water, an ice, and a normal one, all regulation sized and in perfect condition. "It's still huge, though. A _lot_ more impressive, if you ask me, Pikachu. Pikachu?" For Ash had noticed that Pikachu was no longer in front of him. He quickly looked around the room, and saw a yellow splotch in the water field. He sighed. "Come on, Pikachu, there's no time for a swim..." He approached the field, when he noticed there weren't one, but _two_ yellow Pokémon in it. "What...?" Ash wondered out loud. Pikachu lifted its head and noticed Ash.

"Pikapi! Pi! Ka pipika cha chu!" It called, waving Ash over. Ash came over, wanting an explanation, when the other Pokémon turned around.

"Psy yai yai? Duck." A Psyduck said, getting out of the water. It tried to take off its water wings, failed, and looked at Ash. It placed both wings on either side of its head as best it could with the water wings on either wing. Then it tilted its head to one side as its way of showing that it was confused.

"Pipika, pi chu Pikapi." Pikachu said to the confused duck Pokémon.

"Psy yai psy?" Psyduck queried. Pikachu nodded. Psyduck smirked, then waddled off sneakily, as if trying to make itself less noticable. It failed miserably, what with all the squeaking and loud 'Duck's and 'Psy yai yai's it said randomly. Pikachu jumped off its inner tube and onto the tile pathway around the pool, gesturing towards the Psyduck.

"Pikapi, pi ka Pikachupi Pipika." Ash's eyes widened, and he jumped up into the air.

"_She's_ here!" He exclaimed. Pikachu shook its head in the affirmative.

"Pika."

"I can't see her now! Not yet!" Quick as Pikachu's agility, Ash grabbed Pikachu around the middle and raced out of the room.

"Psy yai yai. Duck." Psyduck called out in a short good-bye, waving one waterwing-entangled wing towards the doorway. Light footsteps could be hear from another entrance, getting steadily louder.

"Who were you talking to, Psyduck?" A red haired girl walked into the room. She was wearing a yellow shirt with no sleeves and a hood that was at the moment lowered. The girl had a white belt tied tight around her waist, a pink Luvdisc-shaped buckle holding it together; the belt was holding up a pair of very dark blue denim shorts. For footwear at the moment she had nothing on, but she was holding a pair of burgundy-colored sneakers and a pair of tall white socks like you'd see in a Japanese school uniform. She was holding them instead of wearing them so that, if water spilled out of the pool, they would remain dry.

"Psy? Duck." Psyduck commented, holding its head in its hands. The girl sighed. Her Psyduck was so predictable; always confused, and always making a huge fuss of itself.

"I could've sworn I heard someone in here, besides you, Psyduck." She quickly pulled off her shorts and top to reveal a red bathing suit with green ruffled edging. The girl dove into the water field, dropping her shoes by the side. After surfacing and treading water for a time, she began to do laps, speaking to her Psyduck when she did the backstroke. She might as well have spoken to a wall; Psyduck was gorging itself on a bag filled to bursting with Pokémon food and paying no attention to anything else.

"...I must be imagining things..." Abruptly, her trailing thought was interrupted by a loud 'CHU,' a burst of light from out in the hall, and a familiar cry of pain. "...on second thought, maybe not. I know that voice," the girl said softly. She quietly slipped out of the pool and started moving towards the double doors. About to open them, she heard the familiar voice speak.

"...I just _can't_ talk to her yet, Pikachu."

"Pika, Pikapi. Pi pika chu Pikachupi pi Pipika pi Pipipi! PIKACHU!" The boy talking to the Pikachu was illuminated in the burst of light that came when the Thundershock hit him.

"Ow...fine...if you're going to get so violent, I'll tell you." The boy muttered, trying to flatten some of the hair that was raised and crackling thanks to the electric curent that had just flowed through him. The Pikachu's cheeks continued to spark as a warning. "I promised myself when she left, that before I talked to her next, I would understand what that handkerchief meant."

"Pika, Pikapi - "

"Let me finish, Pikachu. I wanted to be able to respond to whatever it had meant...and you know how well I understand it now. I _can't_ talk to her until I know what that handkerchief meant!" As the boy and Pikachu walked off, the girl smiled. She headed back to the pool, humming a sort of off-key song to herself.

"Adan told me had already battled Ash; then he left to explore the world, and I never found out more. I never thought I'd see him again. And suddenly here he is; no warning and no consideration for all the trouble he'd put others through to keep him safe and sound until he left again. Just like old times." The girl sighed deeply before diving back into the pool and swimming a few more laps, finally just floating on her back, drifting across the pool. Psyduck waddled over to the side of the pool, its mouth closed only barely, small brown pellets of food falling from its mouth with every step it took. The water type opened its mouth further to say something, and the pellets fell down its throat all at once. It gagged, spun around, and fell on its back into the pool.

The red head surface dove to get speed and reach her Pokémon in time to save it. She pulled it out of the water, first pressing down on its stomach until water squirted out of its mouth, and then moving its head to help it swallow. Eventually the skin beneath its feathers turned back to its natural light-yellow shade, and the duck Pokémon woke up. Psyduck popped up off the ground, flashed the peace sign at Misty, then dove back into the food. It popped back up with a wad of pellets choking it, then raced around before falling into the pool. Psyduck then panicked even more, running around in circles so fast that it was almost literally 'running on water.' The aqua-eyed girl looked on as her Pokémon got itself out of the pool and breathing correctly, having swallowed all the Pokémon food as it dashed around with its mouth open as wide as it could go.

It flashed the peace sign once more, then finally said what it had been trying to say. "Psy...duck?" The girl sweatdropped heavily and pushed the water type back into the pool. The Psyduck panicked and flapped its wings furiously. The redhead sighed again, sweatdropping even more heavily.

"Why can't you learn to swim, Psyduck? Return." She held out a Pokéball, and Psyduck disappeared inside of it, leaving the girl to her thoughts, which were many and very confused...

_"It's not like you, like, have anything else to do, li'l sis..." _

"Yeah. That, like, boyfriend of yours is already gone, so you, like, have no reason to not go where we say..."

"How many times do I have to tell you! Ash isn't my boyfriend! And I'm not going to Sootopolis!"

"Like, sure you're not, Misty..." Misty almost brightened up at Violet's words.

_"I'm not? Then what's with all the talk of leaving the gym 'like I wanted to'?" Lily replied, explaining nothing in a sentence, as usual. _

_"Yeah, you're going to go help Wallace!"_

_"He's off traveling, looking for new water Pokémon to train. Since you've traveled all over with your boyfriend, you could be a big help for him to find some new ones..." Misty growled. Her sisters could always find an exception to anything she said to them, then would just throw it right back at her._

_"What's this? Daisy saying the runt is useful?" Misty's voice was filled with anger and scorn. "And Ash isn't my boyfriend!"_

_"Hey. Remember li'l sis; we trusted the gym to you. We wouldn't have trusted anyone else."_

"...maybe they should have..." Misty muttered. Psyduck popped out of its Pokéball and tilted its head to one side.

"Psy? Psy duck." Misty smiled; although Psyduck could be a pain, it still had enough confidence in her to be able to assure her that nothing bad could happen to ruin her 'grand master plan.'

"Psyduck, I'm alright." She said reassuringly. And that was true. She had really enjoyed traveling through the three known regions, and it had really made her feel better. The trip had taken her mind off of some...issues she had been dealing with; namely, her self confidence and her determination to become a Water Master. Along with some...other worries that needn't be thought about at all. She was, at the moment, content and perfectly satisfied with herself, knowing that she was at the perfect stage for a growing Water Master, having been told by an expert where she should be by now.

Although Misty would never admit it, she had loved traveling with Wallace. They had gone everywhere, from Prima's summer home in the Orange Islands to get advice they couldn't get from anyone elsewhere to the Whirl Cup to talk with the overseer of the tournament, Maya. She had remembered Misty from one of the past competitions, and it turned out that they got along great. Although Misty hadn't caught any Pokémon while they traveled, she did get to meet some that she had never heard of before, let alone seen. There was the Ancient Pokémon Relicanth, amazing in its power and its rugged form. Then they saw a flock of Psyduck evolve into Golduck at the same time, which had lit up the night sky; it was more breathtaking than the time she had seen Magicarp evolve into Gyarados with Tracey, Ash, and Quincy T. Quakenpoker (the fact that she wanted to hug all the Golduck to death had nothing to do with her preference for them over the Magicarp).

Over time, Wallace became fascinated by the varieties of Pokémon that he had been unaware of. He had had no idea that there were dark and water hybrids out there; Carvahna, Sharpedo, and Krawdaunt, as well as the many theories behind them, fascinated him. Misty, on the other hand, had been terrified to learn that there was a bug and water combination type; she had positively fled when Wallace showed her a Surskit nest he had found. Overall, they found that there was a water cross breed of water and every type of Pokémon there was with the exception of the following: fire, ghost, normal, steel. They were amazed to find that out, but there had been more than just one discovery during the trip.

Wallace had decided that he wanted to train water Pokémon of only one color. Misty had warned him that it wouldn't be as easy as he thought to accomplish his new goal. Unfortunately for Misty, Wallace was as stubborn and pig-headed as she was. Her case was lost against him, and soon he had dragged her all over the place, Pokéballs in hand, in search of these special Pokémon.

So now, the gym had been flooded with pink water Pokémon. Corsula, Slowpoke, Slowbro, Slowking, Goldeen, Milotic, and Gorebyss had been searched for and found by the duo. Misty had only barely convinced Wallace that trying to capture Suicune was not a good idea; however, she only convinced him by pointing out that Suicune was far more blue than pink. Luckily, Wallace already owned the last pink water type; it was one of his longest partners, and Luvdisc were extremely hard to find out in the wild; Wallace never revealed where he got his own Luvdisc in the first place, come to think of it.

As she was thinking about her adventures, a small yellow and white Pokémon waddled into the room, trilling and waving its arms from side to side. "Toge toge priii!" It trilled happily. Misty pulled herself onto the side of the pool and smiled at the antics of the baby Pokémon.

"Everything alright, Togepi?" Togepi suddenly looked sad, which was a change for the happy little Pokémon. She was able to understand the egg Pokémon perfectly well after all their time together since it had hatched, so they could converse perfectly well. "What's wrong?"

_I've been called for.  
_  
"Wha'd'you mean called for?"

_The supreme Togetic has spoken to me. It says I'm needed to solve a crisis._

"The _supreme_ Togetic?"

_Yes. Apparently, I'm the only one that can help. I must go immediately... _Misty's face fell, as she understood.

"I see. And I can't leave the Sootopolis Gym...not until Wallace doesn't need my help anymore...and I don't know how long that will take. Well, if you must go..."

_I must._

"Then go. But, hey," Misty said, trying to lighten the moment. "If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me." Togepi smiled.

_I supppose so...and I suppose this is good-bye... _Togepi prepared to Teleport, but Misty stopped it.

"Hold on just one second, Togepi." She tossed a few Pokéballs. Out came Goldeen, Gyarados, Staryu, Starmie, Corsula, Politoed, Psyduck, and Horsea. "You have to say good-bye to _everyone_ before you go. It'd be rude not to." Togepi smiled slightly.

_Very well._ Togepi did so, some of the others getting a bit emotional about their baby Pokémon friend leaving them at last. Then, it was time for Togepi to leave. _I'm sorry, but this can't wait any longer... _With that, Togepi teleported out of the room, and out of Misty's life.

Little did she know, she would be seeing her egg sooner than she could ever have imagined...

* * *

Well, some comments:

Ri2: Yeah, I posted this on serebii. Just under a different name (think S - CoL). I've added some stuff, and made it more accurate to the anime series.

wolf-girl87: Last I checked, I'm still here! Just been doing more reading than writing. I'm glad you like, and I can't wait to read more of your stories. And I don't think it was a long review; as a matter of fact, compared to a lot of mine, it's downright puny!

FanFan Fan: Nice name. Thanks.

Hope y'all liked this chapter. Please review; I accept flames, if you're gonna give 'em. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome; I'd beg for them if it wasn't degrading. Jaa, mata!

gladdecease


	3. Random Battling, Picture Viewing

_The First Awakening_

**Chapter Three**

**

* * *

**

May opened her eyes, then immediately shut them again, squinting against the light. At first, she couldn't remember where she was, but it came back to her quick as a flash.

Team Rocket attacking.

Ash and Pikachu going missing.

Searching for them.

Splitting up.

Finding this clearing.

And, most recently, falling asleep.

Slowly, the brown haired girl opened her eyes again, rubbing the exhaustion from them. She sat up and looked around. "Bulbasaur? Beautifly? Combusken? Skitty?" She called for her Pokémon, which she had let out to guard while she slept.

"Nyaa!"

"Com busken!"

"Beauutiflyy!"

"Bulba saur saur." May sighed happily. They were all safe. Suddenly, she heard a sound that she couldn't connect to any of her Pokémon.

"Toge toge prii!"

"What's that?" She wondered aloud. Getting out of her sleeping bag, May stood up and looked closer at her surroundings. There was a pink cat-like Pokémon, a butterfly-like Pokémon, an orange chicken Pokémon, and a green Pokémon with a bulb on its head. They were standing around a fifth Pokémon. May came closer. The Pokémon they were standing over looked a bit like an egg with the top taken off. She took her Pokédex out of her fannypack and scanned it.

"Togepi," the machine droned. "The Spikeball Pokémon. The shell seems to be filled with joy. It is said that it will share good luck when treated kindly."

"Wow! It's so _cute_!" She said happily. She turned to Combusken. "Want to help me catch it, Combusken?" Combusken seemed uncertain. They were supposed to look for black-haired-boy and yellow-shocking-mouse. Then it looked down at the Pokémon. The egg didn't seem _too_ difficult to defeat, and it supposed that a little exercise couldn't do any harm. It turned to May and smiled, nodding.

"Com Busken!" May returned the smile.

"Well, alright then! Combusken, use Sand Attack!" The orange Pokémon complied, getting sand into the Togepi's eyes by kicking it up with its powerful legs. The Togepi blinked, and started waving its little arms back and forth.

"Toge toge toge toge!" It cried, its arms glowing a light, yet bright, shade of blue.

"Woah!" May cried. "What's that?" She held out her Pokédex, which automatically scanned and identified the attack.

"Metronome. Randomly uses any attack."

"_Any_ attack! Oh no! Watch out, Combusken!" Combusken looked around nervously. While some attacks it could stand up to readily, a strong water-type attack would ruin the fire-types chances of success. A rainbow colored burst of light appeared in front of the Togepi and shot towards Combusken.

"Combusken, quick! Move out of the way!" Thankfully, Combusken was able to avoid the brunt of the Aurora Beam, but still got hit by the edge of it. It fell onto the ground. Shaking, it tried to stand up, fell back down, and tried again. The second time it got up the whole way and shook its head. Apparently, this egg was not something to underestimate.

"Are you okay, Combusken?" The chicken Pokémon nodded, then got into a fighting stance. "Use Double Kick!" May cried, pointing at the target of Togepi's stubby little legs. Balancing on its left leg, Combusken quickly shot out its right leg twice. Both kicks landed, and Togepi fell over, weakened.

"Alright! Pokéball, go!" May called out as she threw her Pokéball at the fallen Togepi. It was turned into a red light and sucked into the Pokéball, which shook once, twice, three times. Then, it stopped, and the Pokéball's light blinked off.

"Yes!" May cheered. "I caught a Togepi!"

"Com busken!" Added a happy, but tired Combusken.

"You did awesome, Combusken!" May said. "Return, Combusken." Combusken disappeared into its Pokéball. "You deserve a good rest."

She turned to Skitty, Bulbasaur, and Beautifly, brushing brown tresses out of her eyes. "Well, we can use all the luck we can get, right guys?" All three Pokémon nodded. "Okay, then. Come on out, Togepi!" She shouted, throwing her newly filled Pokéball into the air. It popped open, and out came the egg Pokémon May and her Pokémon had worked so hard to catch.

May held out a Potion to Togepi. "You need to keep up your strength, now that you're part of our team, Togepi." She was slightly confused when Togepi slapped the Potion away. Eventually, with some persuasion from Skitty's cuteness, she got Togepi to drink the Potion.

"Well, let's keep looking for Ash, guys," she said to Bulbasaur, Skitty and Beautifly. "He and Pikachu can't have gone _too_ far in one night." To May's surprise, Togepi trilled at Ash's name and jumped into her arms. "This is _really_ getting weird..." she muttered. "Oh, well. Let's find them!" She packed up her sleeping bag and her backpack, and started off. Togepi refused to go back in its Pokéball, so May continued to carry it.

"Beautifly!" Called out the butterfly Pokémon.

"You've found someone, Beautifly?" May queried.

"Fly!" Beautifly confirmed.

"Let's go!" The group charged on through the woods, when May suddenly bumped into -

" - ow! Watch it, May!" A black-haired boy said, rubbing his aching forehead.

"Sorry, Max," May said apologetically. Then she blinked. "Max?"

"Yeah...?" May looked up at Beautifly, who sweatdropped.

"Beautifly, I said to look for Ash, not just a person!"

"Fly fly. Beautifly." It said before flying off in search of Ash again. It was about then that Max noticed May was carrying a Pokémon.

"Wow! What is _that_, May!" He shouted, pointing at Togepi.

"_This_," May said proudly, "is my new Pokémon, Togepi. It won't go in its Pokéball, but it will do great in Contests, I know it!" Max readjusted his glasses.

"Yes, it probably will, May, but you're supposed to be searching for Ash, not catching Pokémon." May sweatdropped and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Yeah, well...Togepi are supposed to bring good luck, and we could use some good luck, right?" She straightened, suddenly serious. "Anyway, we have to go look for Ash ourselves. Good luck finding him!" She raced off into the woods as Brock caught up with Max.

"What was that about, Max? I thought I heard someone over here."

"Yeah. May ran into me - literally. Hey!" Brock lowered his head to Max's eye level.

"Hey what?" Max, too eager to notice the tone of Brock's voice, explained. "I just got an idea. Why don't we just find the path and walk down it for awhile. Maybe Ash slept by the side of the road. We might catch up to him."

"Good idea, Max. Why didn't we do that in the first place?" Max shrugged.

"There's a lot of things we don't do in the first place. I guess it's just hindsight. Let's go!"

"Yeah," Brock said, looking up as he spoke. "Swellow! Forretress! Can you see the path?" A blue and red bird Pokémon and a red and gray rock-like Pokémon flew and floated down to Brock's eye level.

"Forre tress." Forretress shook itself left and right to show it hadn't seen the path.

"Swell low." Swellow nodded and took off to Brock's left.

"Find May, and tell her to come this way, okay Forretress?" Brock told his Pokémon. Forretress nodded and floated off. Brock turned and followed Max, who was already tailing Swellow.

Brock fervently hoped Ash hadn't done anything stupid. If Ash would only _talk_ to him...then maybe he could help Ash...but Ash had spoken nary a word, except things he also told Max and May. _'What's wrong, Ash?'_ Brock wondered. _'And why can't I help?'_

* * *

"Pikapi..." Pikachu tried to explain. "Pikachupi pi Pipipi pi Pipika chu ka pika cha..." Ash continued to ignore Pikachu, staring out the window of the Pokémon Center. Pikachu's cheeks began to crackle. "PIKA PI KA CHU!" A Thunderbolt jerked Ash out of his train of thought. 

"I'm listening now, Pikachu! And how can you be so sure about yourself? I can't be so sure..." With that, Ash went back to looking out the window. Having not slept well the night before, what with the Team Rocket attack and falling asleep somewhere around four a.m., it wasn't long before Ash was sound asleep.

Pikachu looked at Ash. Asleep. It jumped onto the chair Ash was sitting in and waved its paws in front of Ash's eyes. Convinced he wouldn't wake for a few good hours, Pikachu dashed out of the Pokémon Center and headed towards the gym once more.

Misty was sitting next to the water field, watching Horsea swim around. She smiled, although it was rather obvious that it was forced. Horsea hadn't been in such a large body of water since it had lived in the ocean. Not that she wasn't happy Horsea was happy; really, she was thrilled her Pokémon were happy, it was just...Togepi had left so suddenly, and she still hadn't adjusted to not having a little baby to care for.

"Misty? Are you in there?" Misty stood up. It was Wallace, the Gym Leader. She looked over towards the door.

"Yes, I'm here." Wallace jumped through the doorway and tossed a Pokéball. Out popped a pink heart-shaped Pokémon, which spun around, beak up in the air, squirting out a blizzard, which sparkled around it very appealingly. Next, the Luvdisc used Double Team to appear to be a circle of Luvdiscs. It then shot a jet of water from its mouth. Because it was moving so fast, the Water Gun became more of a Water Circle, splashing at the center, then shooting upward and outward, combining attractively with the blizzard. For a final move, Luvdisc ended the Double Team and created a torrent of water out of nowhere, splashing it in a circle behind the Blizzard and Water Gun. Luvdisc ended the Waterfall and landed on Wallace's head, the Water Gun and Blizzard still gently floating down to the floor. Wallace himself was bowing while standing in the only dry area, surrounded by a recently made half-frozen pool of water.

Misty clapped. Since they had gotten to the gym, Wallace had been showing her his various routines for contests. Although he loved being a Gym Leader, it was no secret to Misty that Wallace wanted to be a Coordinator. Wallace straightened out of the bow and brushed a blue lock of hair out of his field of vision. "I take it you liked it?"

"Liked it! It was amazing, Wallace!" Misty exclaimed. "Right, To - " She faltered, and trailed off. For a moment there, she had forgotten Togepi was gone. Wallace frowned.

"What's wrong, Mist? Where's the little egg?" Misty's face fell.

"I told you not to call me that." She said impatiently. Only _one_ person could ever call her by _that_ name. "And Togepi is..." Misty faltered, her eyes filling with stubborn tears that refused to fall. Wallace came closer to Misty and lifted her chin.

"Well?"

"Togepi...had to go. It was called for by the supreme Togetic, whatever _that_ means." Misty pushed his hand aside and bent her head again, not wanting Wallace to see her tear up. "I miss my little baby..."

Wallace knelt down and brushed the almost-tears away. "It's alright, Misty...I think I have just the thing you may need..." He went out into the hallway. "Hey! Who's Pikachu are you!" Misty heard a cry of pain, and saw a burst of light. She had a fleeting thought of deja vú before she heard Wallace yell feeblely, "You shouldn't go in there!" A yellow Pokémon ran into the main room.

"Pikachupi!" It shouted, jumping into Misty's arms.

"Hi, Pikachu," Misty said sadly, rubbing its head with less enthusiasm than she normally would. Pikachu looked up at her.

"Pika chu, Pikachupi?" It asked.

"Togepi had to go see the supreme Togetic, Pikachu." Misty explained. "I really miss taking care of it...but Wallace thinks he has a solution to my problem..." Wallace entered the room, holding something behind his back.

"So you _know_ that little menace?" He asked. "It shocked me half to death to get in here." Misty held Pikachu in front of her face and looked it in the eye.

"Pikachu," Misty scolded. "Is that true?" When Pikachu nodded, she continued repremanding it. "Now Pikachu, just because _Ash_ can survive a Thundershock once in a while doesn't mean _everyone_ can. You should know better." Pikachu looked downward, ashamed of itself.

"Pi ka..." Pikachu's ears lowered onto its head sadly.

"So...Pikachu belongs to this Ash person I've heard so much about?" Wallace said slyly. Misty flushed slightly. Once again, she was regretting having told Wallace so much about her travels. She had needed responses, and feedback, and she most certainly couldn't get that from her Pokémon - and she couldn't tell her sisters. She had cringed at the thought of telling them - _many_ times before.

"Pi...?" Pikachu asked. It frowned slightly. "Pikachupi, pi ka chu ka?" Misty giggled.

"What is this, an interrogation?" She asked teasingly. She looked up at Wallace. "Can you give me whatever you were going to give me later, Wallace? We have a _lot_ of catching up to do..." With that, she put Pikachu on her shoulder and walked out of the main room. Wallace sighed, pulling the pink egg out from behind his back. Taking it over to the case it had been in before, he looked at his Luvdisc. Then back at the egg.

"It'll be as beautiful as you are, won't it, Luvdisc?" He said. The egg seemed to glow slightly, as if preening itself at his words. Luvdisc poked its beak fondly at the glass case its baby was tucked neatly away in. Wallace smiled. Like a mother Blaziken brooding over its Torchics. In a sense, Luvdisc was doing just that, seeing that that very egg was Luvdisc's first child. Both Luvdisc and Wallace were nervous about the egg, but Wallace was confident Misty would take good care of it. _If_ she would even take it.

"Pikachupi, pi Kachuchu chu ka pi Pikapi?" Misty blushed at the memory.

"Because I told Wallace what I told you and Togepi and all my other Pokémon..." Pikachu's eyes widened.

"Pika... "

"Yeah, I told him 'the secret.' And I'll never live it down, either." Misty moaned halfheartedly. "He's gonna tease me about the secret for all eternity..."

After answering some more of Pikachu's questions, Misty placed her head onto the ocean blue pillow at the top of her bed. She soon went deep in thought, and for the first time, Pikachu took a moment to look around the room it was in. Water Pokémon decorated the sheets on Misty's bed, and there was a smaller bed next to hers for Togepi. On the other side of her bed was an aquarium for Goldeen and Horsea to sleep in at night. The dressers were made if some sort of dark stained oak, and they matched the bed's headstand perfectly. There was also a bookcase that had five shelves on it. Four of the shelves had various books on it. But the fifth shelf was what caught Pikachu's eye.

Pikachu jumped up onto that shelf and scrutinized the contents of this shelf closely. It was pictures, pictures that must had been too important to put in picture albums. Pikachu smiled. Most of them looked incredibly familiar...

One had a girl in a pink kimono dancing with a boy in a green kimono and an electric mouse Pokémon. Pikachu smiled, remembering the adventures it had had at Maiden's Peak. Those were the good old days.

Another picture frame held the scenes when she had first caught her Pokémon. It included two star-shaped Pokémon, a goldfish Pokémon, a seahorse Pokémon, a duck Pokémon, a tadpole Pokémon, and a blue water dragon Pokémon. Pikachu frowned. It hadn't known Misty had caught a Gyarados. Well, it guessed Misty overcame her fear of Gyarados at last.

Pikachu looked at all of the pictures Misty had placed on that shelf, seeing reminders old memories for quite some time, forgetting time existed, living in the past, reliving all the best moments, and trying to forget the worst. Eventually, it realized that Ash would be waking up soon. The electric Pokémon rushed out of the room, and straight into Wallace.

"Kachuchu pi..." Pikachu said. "Chu chu pika kachu."

"Sorry, little guy," Wallace explained. "I can't understand you like Misty can. Anyway," he continued, holding out a pink Pokémon egg, "would you give her this, please? I can't go into her room unless I want to be hit over the head for waking her up, or something like that." Pikachu smiled, glad Misty hadn't changed _too_ much. It took the egg out of Wallace's hands and brought it into Misty's room. Misty was now asleep, and would be a very bad thing to wake her. Instead, Pikachu placed the egg on Togepi's old bed. It looked at the clock. Ash would definitely be awake by now! He might be panicking about Pikachu's disappearance right now. Pikachu almost made it to the door before it was opened by...

* * *

K...reviews! 

cutehelenjames: Thanks! Here's your update!

ness345: Aww...thanks! Here ya go!

Ri2: You want the _whole_ story? In all its miniscule details? Okay...here's how it went: Wallace is the original Gym Leader, but has being feeling that he isn't doing a very good job as the last gym before the Hoenn League, so he wanted to get more Pokémon, train with them, and become a stronger gym leader in general. Adan, his teacher, took over for him while he was training so that those that came to the gym would still have a formidable challenge. Ash got to the Center between chapters; I didn't feel like writing that bit, so I just decided to let the reader fill in the blanks. Pikachu went out while Ash was asleep (Ash woke up with the sun in his eyes; aka late), thinking to visit Adan. To his surprise, Adan was not there. Instead, a mystery person and a familiar person; Misty! Pikachu recognized Misty right away; having known her and been in her company for years helped a lot in that.

wolf-girl87: Hardy har har. Well, I shall get cracking on your stories once I'm finished writing more of mine, k?

Learned my lesson here: flame ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT, and review if it's not too much of a hassle. Thankies! Jaa, mata!

gladdecease


	4. Search for a Friend, Santa Attack

_The First Awakening_

**Chapter Four**

* * *

Ash opened his eyes slowly and groaned. He ached all over, and decided he would _never_ sleep sitting up again. He stood up, stretched, and looked around.

No Pikachu.

He checked his backpack.

No Pikachu.

He went into his room and looked under his bed's covers. No Pikachu.

Under the bed: no Pikachu.

In the dresser drawers: no Pikachu.

Under the potted plant: no Pikachu.

In the potted plant: no Pikachu.

Under the pillows: no Pikachu.

_In_ the pillows: no Pikachu.

Under the dresser: no Pikachu.

"Can I help you?" A kindly voice asked Ash.

"Wha?" Ash, who was standing on his head to look under the dresser, fell backwards and landed with a crash on his bottom. He looked up. A pink haired young woman Brock would have drooled over was standing over him, looking quite worried. "Oh, Nurse Joy," he said, "do you know where my Pikachu is?" Nurse Joy looked puzzled for a moment.

"Pikachu, Pikachu..." she mumbled. The Pokémon nurse snapped her fingers. "Oh, yes, I remember now. Your Pikachu went running outside a few hours ago, right after you fell asleep."

"Oh," Ash frowned, then stood up and followed Nurse Joy to the entrance room of the Center. "Which way did Pikachu go?"

"Pikachu went down this street, up another, and I could be wrong about this, but it looked as if Pikachu turned left and was headed for -" Nurse Joy said, pointing on the large map she had on the front table.

"- the Sootopolis Gym." Ash finished, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. "Well, I'll go get Pikachu then. Keep an eye out for my friends, will ya, Nurse Joy?"

"No problem, Ash!" Nurse Joy said, waving from the front of the Pokémon Center as Ash rushed out the door. "I'll tell them where you went!"

* * *

Forretress raced through the woods, carelessly pushing aside trees and Pokémon alike. Feeling that there was no one anywhere nearby, Forretress called out May's name in its own language, hoping one of May's Pokémon would hear it. Forretress never liked being lost or confused, and it fervently hoped it wasn't lost now.

"Toge toge priii!" A Pokémon trilled. Forretress stopped. It knew that voice. It knew that Pokémon. But, that would mean...Forretress shook itself back and forth. There was no way Misty could be here. She was at her home. Nevertheless, it asked cautiously if Misty was out there.

A pink cat Pokémon identified itself as one of May's Pokémon, coming out of the trees in front of Forretress. Forretress apologized, explaining whom it thought might have been out there. Skitty was confused, having never heard of the water Pokémon trainer before. Before Forretress could explain more, they were interrupted by a feminine voice.

"Skitty!" May called out. "Where are you?" Skitty replied to its trainer, and May soon found them. Forretress was amazed to see a familiar Pokémon in her arms that it remembered being in another set of arms. It asked the Pokémon uncertainly if it was the Pokémon Forretress thought it was. Togepi looked equally uncertain as it scrutinized Forretress for a moment. Then Togepi appear to recognize Forretress, at which time it trilled happily. It greeted Forretress, then asked where Brock was. Forretress wasn't concerned with that at the moment, instead wondering why Togepi was with May instead of Misty. Togepi explained that it had been traveling to find the Supreme Togetic, when it had gotten lost. May had found it, and Togepi overheard her saying she was looking for Ash. Ash, Togepi knew, was going to where Misty was. It figured that May would eventually take it to Misty, at which time Misty could keep Togepi from getting lost again on its search for the Supreme Togetic. Skitty, Bulbasaur and Beautifly were confused throughout the conversation. May, however, was completely in the dark, seeing that she could barely understand her Bulbasaur, let alone a _new_ Pokémon. Forretress turned towards Beautifly, telling it to let May know they should head back to the road. The bug type complied.

"Well, then?" May asked. "Let's go!" May put Togepi in her fannypack so they could travel faster; she and her Pokémon followed Forretress to the path. They hurried down the path, and soon caught sight of Brock, Max, and Swellow. Forretress was relieved that it was back with its trainer, but it was still worried. Togepi's plan may seem foolproof to Togepi, but Forretress doubted May would be willing to give up Togepi as easily as Togepi had hoped.

* * *

"Jessie," a blue-haired young man wondered aloud. "Where are we?" A redheaded young woman immediately bashed his head into the white, cold, and wet ground.

"Isn't it obvious, James?" She shouted loudly. The cat Pokémon standing next to them shrugged, then looked up.

"Well, seein' how deres Stantler flyin' overhead, snow on de ground, and a giant barbershop pole stickin' outta the ground right over dere, I'd say we're at de North Pole." Immediately, James' eyes lit up.

"Ooh! The North Pole? Can we go see Santa Clause? Please?" Once again, Jessie pounded his head into the ground, though the Team Rocket member continued his pleading and begging.

"Of course not! We're going to get out of here, and steal the twerp's Pikachu," she shouted, her voice filled with bravado.

"So, where do we go?" Jessie fell on her face. When she got up, her face appeared to be three times its normal size. "What a stupid question! We go the way we came from!"

"An' which way is dat?" Meowth questioned. "A compass don't work at the North Pole," Meowth looked over at their balloon - or, what was left of it, anyway, "and we can't _fly_ back the way we came." Jessie and James looked over at the balloon. It was completely blackened, and the basket itself had disintegrated. The balloon had lost all of its shape, looking more like a Ditto than a Meowth.

"Meowth," James asked, "what did you fill the balloon with?"

"Well, we didn't have enough cash left ta get helium or oil for the lighter, so I got some new stuff." Meowth replied.

"What _kind_ of new stuff?" Jessie queried, unusually calm sounding. Meowth should have taken notice at this; whenever Jessie _seemed_ calm, she was most likely raging inside. However, the normal-type took no notice, and continued on. It was only one word Meowth had left to say, but it was enough.

"Hydrogen." Jessie and James began to shake, attempting to keep their anger from bursting out.

It didn't work.

"_Hydrogen?_" Jessie questioned, looking as if her head was twenty sizes larger than normal.

"You fool," James cried out. "Even _I_ have enough brains to know not to use hydrogen!"

"It's incredibly unstable!"

"It's a wonder we're still alive!" As Meowth quivered under the shouts of its teammates, the Stantler overhead began circling. Soon, another group of flying Stantler came from another area of the sky. This group was connected by a group of leather straps tying them to reigns, which allowed them to pull a red sleigh through the air. The newer group circled around the others for a moment, before a jolly, old voice shouted out:

"Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, use Stomp! Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen! Use Takedown!"

Team Rocket had a moment to look up and see an elderly man wearing a red outfit trimmed in white sitting in a flying red sleigh before four Stantler landed on top of them. As the Stantler got off, Meowth jumped up and started running, with a very good reason to do so. The other four Stantler had landed the sleigh and were running full speed at the trio of troublemakers. Jessie and James leapt up and started following Meowth, but none of them could escape the Takedown. As they were blasted off into the air, Team Rocket heard a faint voice coming from the sleigh. The voice said, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

* * *

"What happened to your new Pokémon, May?" Max asked. He had wanted to take a closer look at the Pokémon, which was not like anything he had ever seen before.

"You've got a new Pokémon, May?" Brock was almost crestfallen that he hadn't been at the capture. It had been awhile since _any_ of them had caught a new Pokémon. The most recent capture, actually, had been Ash's Snorunt; an unusual Pokémon, and a challenge to be sure. It was Ash's first Ice type, not counting Lapras' abilities, and often created cold weather for its new friends.

"Yeah," May whispered. "But I think it's sleeping, so I can't show it to you right now."

"Okay," Brock said, a bit disappointed. "I'll take a look at it later." He turned to Max. "So Max, what's the closest city?" Max took out the Pokédex. He adjusted a few dials to get a reading, and a few buttons pressed later, he had the answer.

"Let's see..." he muttered, the Pokémon enthusiast's eyes flying across the plastic screen. "The closest city is...ah! It's Sootopolis!" Brock's reaction was equally surprised.

"Are you kidding me?" The breeder shouted. "Nurse Joy said it'd take days to get back to Pacifidlog. How could we be closer to Sootopolis than Pacifidlog? "

"I don't know!" Max cried out. May put a finger to her mouth, than lifted it up, smiling joyfully.

"That's really convenient!" Brock and Max fell on their faces.

"I guess so," Max mumbled into the dirt. "I just want to know why…"

"Yeah..." Brock straightened up. "Well, let's go!" He jumped up into the air excitedly, pumping a fist. Behind him, Max and May sweatdropped. As soon as Brock landed on the ground, he turned around. "What?"

"That was -"

"- scary. You can't play the part of exuberant teen Pokémon trainer very well."

"Yeah...it just doesn't suit you." Brock crept to one side of the path and put his arms around his knees, the air around him turning blue. May looked over at Max.

"You think this is what Ash meant by Brock's mood swings?" She wondered. Max nodded.

"Most likely." He adjusted his glasses. "I'll take care of it." He boldly strode over to Brock, took a hold of his ear, and pulled. The elasticity given to Brock's ear every time Misty or Max had ever pulled his ear became apparent, as his ear was able to stretch two yards before Brock began to slowly slide along the path, able to ignore the pain in his advanced state of despair. May looked at Max, pulling with all his worth, then at Brock, drawing little pictures in the dust and barely moving. She turned to Lombre.

"Would you use water gun on him, please?" Lombre looked at its trainer and nodded, immediately drenching the Pokémon breeder with water. There was no sign of a change in Brock's state. May sighed. She would have to use the Ultimate Brock Rejuvenator. She walked over to him, bent over, and whispered something in his ear. Instantaneously, Brock jumped up, shook off the water, and started to head for Sootopolis at record speed. His Pokémon followed suit at once.

Max walked over to his sister, stood next to her, and watched as Brock outran a passing Rapidash and two Dodrio on his way. "What did you tell him?" Max asked his big sister. May smirked.

"What else? I reminded him who would be in Sootopolis - the Sootopolis Nurse Joy at the Sootopolis Pokémon Center."

"Oh...why didn't _I_ think of that?" May shrugged.

"Because I did, I guess. We'll have to hurry if we want to catch him before Nurse Joy throws him out of the Center. I don't think we'd be able to get a room if he acts up like he always does." Max laughed, his good humor getting the better of him.

"Let's go then, May." The siblings began to race down the road, May's Pokémon right behind them.

* * *

Ash panted. He was running _way_ too fast for his own good; he probably could have beaten Brock in a race to Nurse Joy at this speed. He turned the corner, and there it was; the Sootopolis Gym. He ran inside, and crashed into a person standing in front of the door.

"Oof - oh, I'm sorry sir, I was just...trying...to find...my..." Ash trailed off. The man in front of him was probably one of the strangest-looking people he had ever seen, and he had seen quite a few of them in all his travels.

He had two locks of blue hair that fell in front of his eyes regularly, so he had to brush them aside to see well. He was wearing an outfit similar to the outfit Winowa of the Fortree gym had worn: the outfit was blue at the top, smoothly turned into white for the sleeve and bottom of the shirt, and effortlessly changed to purple for the pants. Above all that, he was slightly charred, as if he had been recently shocked by a...

"...Pikachu..." Ash finished. The man stood up and brushed himself off.

"Yes, well, as you can see, I've already had the pleasure of meeting your Pikachu, Ash." The man took off his white hat, dusted it off, and then placed it back on his head. "I am Wallace." Then, as he wiped his overly large shirt collars, he took a long look at Ash. "Well," he began, "I can't say I didn't expect more of you, based on what Misty's told me – fudge it!" He slapped a hand over his mouth.

"How...what happened to Ardan?" Ash asked, confused.

"Well, I was Ardan's student way back when, and I wasn't doing too well as a gym leader. I decided to go out and really get to know the Pokémon I'm supposed to train. Lucky for me, Ardan was able to spare some time to come and replace me until I felt I was able to really be a true Gym Leader again." Ash blinked.

"Oh…hey, what did you say before?" Wallace was confused.

"You mean 'fudge it?'" Ash shook his head.

"Before that."

"Uh…'I can't say I didn't expect more of you, based on what Misty's told me?'" What Wallace had repeated suddenly hit him at full force. _'Pikachu was right; she_ is _here. Hey! Misty talked about me to this guy?' _Ash flushed. _'What could she have said that would make him think I'm not what she said I was?' _Wallace noticed the blush and smirked, amused.

"I guess the feeling's mutual, eh, kid?" Realizing what he had said, the Gym Leader smacked his head again. "Argh! Mother - always - said - you - talked - too - much! Misty - is - going - to - _kill_ - you!" He said between slaps. Then he remembered Ash was still there. He sweatdropped, joining Ash in his embarrassment.

"Sorry about that, Ash; I just broke two of Misty's most important laws." He chuckled. "Look at me. I'm supposed to be the newly reinstated gym leader, and I'm following strict rules set down for me by my assistant. But I digress. You want your Pikachu, yes?" Ash nodded. "It went in the back room, down the hall. But be very quiet when you go in—for your own sake."

"Okay, Wallace...nice meeting you, I guess..." Ash walked down the hall. Wallace speed-walked in the other direction, hoping tremendously that Misty wouldn't kill him for this either.

* * *

Pikachu looked at the clock. Ash would definitely be awake by now! He might be panicking about Pikachu's disappearance right now. Pikachu made it to the door before it was opened by...

"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted, running into its trainer's open arms. Then Pikachu realized its mistake. It held one of its fingers over its mouth as a sign for Ash to be quiet. Before he could ask why, Pikachu pointed towards the bed. Ash looked up at it and saw red hair.

He froze.

He was in the same room as Misty, while she was sleeping. Looking around, he quickly formulated a plan. A crazy plan. Ash formed a crazy, _insane_ sort of plan. "Go play with Psyduck, Pikachu." Ash whispered frantically. Pikachu nodded, slightly puzzled as to its trainer's intentions, and raced off. Ash turned around and flushed slightly. Now he was _alone_ in a room with Misty, while she was sleeping.

Ash warily walked over to her bed and slowly sat down, careful not to disturb Misty's slumber. He gently touched her cheek, and almost shivered at the contact. Although he wasn't sure _why_ he wanted to do this, Ash was still sure he wanted to. And so he began to talk. He spoke of his gym battles, his triumphs over Team Rocket, his adventures with Brock and Max and May. He whispered of Team Aqua and of Team Magma. He commented on May's dreams of Coordinating, Brock's Water Pokémon, and Max's amazement at a Pokémon evolving. He murmured about ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams where he had seen Pokémon she would like. He chattered on about his friends and Pokémon, and when he ran out of those, he started talking about himself; his fears, his worries, his dreams, his hopes. Everything that he couldn't talk to Brock, Max, May, or Pikachu about came out. And all the while, he stroked her cheek, or gently touched her hair.

It didn't really matter, so long as he was touching her.

Throughout his journeys, both with and without Misty, Ash had discovered that he needed her. Not in some disgusting, sexual way; thank Ho-oh, _nothing _like that. It was more like...a person needs water and food, right? Well, Ash needed Misty like that. He needed her to talk to late at night when Brock was snoring away. He needed her shouting at him, pushing him to be a better trainer, to not be so incompetent, to learn to handle his Pokémon better during battle. To be a better person. And he needed to be close to her as well, he had realized. Frankly, being near Misty had always been comforting. Lately, Ash had been missing that feeling. But he couldn't tell Brock anything about it. The last time he had talked of Misty, Brock had gotten a strange look on his face and had starting whispering something to May. Before he could finish, Ash had stopped him and laughed nervously, not sure why he was so nervous, or why he had been so warm at the moment.

He was just about that temperature now.

* * *

Wallace waited in the battle room, watching Pikachu playing happily with Psyduck and the other gym Pokémon, including Misty's.

May, Max, and Brock eventually made it to the Pokémon Center, and got themselves a room. Only after they had gone inside to unpack did the Nurse Joy on duty remember Ash's message. However, she was too busy with injured Pokémon at the moment to tell them. Brock, Max, and May waited in their room for a time, wondering if Ash would ever get there.

And so, hours passed.

* * *

First off, I'm sorry for deleting this chapter. I realized later that I didn't even bother to add anything or correct errors I made the first time I posted the chapter. I hope to post the next chapter really soon to make up for it.

Reviews!

Ri2: Well, once the Sootopolis Gym Battle episodes have been dubbed (which won't happen for awhile) it would be pretty common knowledge. Will you be satisfied now that I've placed an explanation within the story? And I'd love to read your story; problem is, I have no idea who you are here or on serebii. I checked the database for users, and no one with your name is in there. Mind telling me who you are?

Warlordess: Dude! DUDE! I'm fine, dude, though you don't seem all that well. Yuck. Glad you're better; 's not the same w/o you around. And yes, I realize it doesn't seem like it should be possible, (after what happened in 'For Crying Out Loud,' e.g.) but it worked for this part of the story. I much prefer it to stories where May tries to capture Togepi, but Pikachu stops her. And you might think so, but Togepi might not consider itself actually 'owned' by Misty; it's her 'baby,' and she's its 'mother.' You are? You're too kind.

wolf-girl87: Not how I learned it in Japanese class, it isn't. :P Glad you found it interesting, though I'm not very glad you got bored. What bored you?

Pon Pon Pocky: Thanks for the compliments, and here's the next chapter.

Well...what did you think? Please let me know...there's a little purplish button down there you can click on to tell me. If not, an email'll do just fine. I just want to know how I'm doing.

Jaa, mata!

gladdecease


	5. Joyous Talk, Fighting Tooth and Tooth

_The First Awakening_

**Chapter 5****

* * *

**

Brock quickly unpacked, and looked around the room. It was an ordinary Pokémon Center room, with two bunk beds and a dresser or two. Then he looked at the room's occupants. And sweatdropped.

May was chasing her brother in circles around the room for looking in her backpack while she was going to the bathroom. He had apparently found something that was supposed to be kept a secret, probably a diary or something like that, while looking for May's new Pokémon. Because Max had been holding the backpack when May came into the room, the room was now strewn with May's clothes, personal belongings, Pokéballs, and Pokémon equipment. Not to mention the small mountain of stuff Max had put onto May's bed during his search.

"Definitely _not_ ordinary Pokémon Center room inhabitants," he mumbled. Max and May stopped running and looked at Brock.

"You say something, Brock?" Brock shook his head, then ran out of the room, having forgotten to get his Pokémon healed. Max and May glanced at each other, wondering why Brock had just rushed out on them.

"Weird?"

"You said it..." Suddenly, they heard a crash in the hall. The siblings dashed over to the door, opened it, and found Brock lying on the floor, rubbing his head. Frantically apologizing to him was a pink haired woman in her early twenties wearing an unusual outfit.

"...I'm so sorry sir," she was saying. "I was trying to find you and your friends because I just remembered something - " Brock immediately jumped up and grabbed her hands.

" - not-a-problem-Nurse-Joy," said Brock, his cheeks flushing slightly. "You-can-run-into-me-anytime-you-like-Nurse-Joy-Max-and-May-are-over-there," he pointed to Max and May, who were standing in front of their open doorway, "but-I'm-so-much-more-interesting-than-them-Nurse-Joy..." He continued rambling as Nurse Joy slipped her hands out of his, sweatdropping. Before Brock could grab her hands again, Max grabbed his ear and pulled.

"You certainly seem to be Max," Nurse Joy said, pointing to the Pokémon enthusiast. She turned to look at the last member of their group, pointing to her as well. "And you seem just as May was described. Am I right?"

May nodded. "That's right, Nurse Joy. But…how do you know us? I don't think we met you last time we were here." The Pokémon nurse shook her head, allowing her ringlets of hair to whip back and forth across her face.

"No, I'm rather new at this, having just been assigned a few months ago. As for how I know of you—a young man named Ash told me that you three would be coming. He told me to - " Nurse Joy was cut off by the sudden attention that her explanation was receiving from Brock, Max, and May.

"Ash is here?" They asked, surprised. Nurse Joy nodded, and the trio of friends shared a silent cheer of joy.

"Yes, he is." Nurse Joy repeated. "Or rather, he _was_, but his Pikachu ran off while he was sleeping, and he went to go get it a few hours ago." The Pokémon nurse frowned. "Now that I think of it, he should have been back by now..."

"Where did he go?" The trio of travelers shouted frantically, waving their arms around. They weren't about to lose Ash so quickly, having just apparently caught up to him. Without knowing it, yes, but caught up with him nonetheless.

"The Sootopolis Gym. I'll show you the way after I heal your Pokémon," Nurse Joy said, happy, cheerful, and kind as usual. "I'll take them now." She held out some Pokéball trays for May to place her Pokéballs in.

"Oh, that's great Nurse Joy!" May said happily. "My Combusken was just in a challenging battle against my new Togepi, and they both need to be healed...um, Nurse Joy? Are you okay?" For May had just held out Combusken's Pokéball and Togepi to place in (and on) the trays. However, Joy had frozen and begun to stare at May in such a way that the Coordinator slowly pulled away, a bit shaken by the Pokémon Nurse's sudden, unexpected actions. When May looked around she saw that Nurse Joy wasn't the only one looking at her oddly; Brock had also stopped moving, and was staring at Togepi continually. Brock looked at Nurse Joy, and looked at Togepi. Then at Nurse Joy again. Brock then picked up Togepi, ignoring May's protests. He studied it, and quickly handed it back to May. He raced into the room, found his backpack, and took out a small tin labeled "Misty's Togepi Pokémon food." He rushed back into the hall, took a piece of food out of the jar, and handed it to the Togepi. It sniffed the brown pellet, trilled happily, then ate the food. Brock dropped the tin on the ground.

"I don't believe it…" He said quietly. Then he turned to Nurse Joy. She turned to Brock. "We need to talk." They said at the same time. They went into Brock's, Max's and May's bedroom and shut the door behind them. When Max tried to open the door, it was locked.

"..._really_ weird?"

"...you said it..."

* * *

A pinpoint of light appeared in the sky, as three figures fell from the heavens. "Ah!" Team Rocket cried as they crash-landed in a large field. James sat up. "_Now_ where are we?" He asked miserably.

Jessie rubbed her head before dusting off. "Beats me, James. Meowth? What do you think?" She turned to their talking Pokémon companion. It was backed up against a tall many-branched tree, quivering with fear.

"Well, I tink we're surrounded by Pokémon!" Meowth shouted. James and Jessie shouted aloud and quickly stood up, looking around nervously. Meowth was right. Standing around the trio of evildoers were a good dozen Rattata and Raticate, maybe two dozen female Nidoran and Nidorina, and a half dozen Trapinch, all showing their teeth with evil grins. The ones at the back of the group scurried away. Soon enough, they came back with a slim young woman that—surprisingly—had wings coming out of her back. She took a look at the shaking team of troublemakers, then stepped back, ready to let her Pokémon do what they did best; attack.

"Rattata! Use Hyper fang!" She cried. "Raticate, use Super Fang! Nidoran, Nidorina, and Trapinch! Use Bite!" Immediately, the purple rat Pokémon pinned down Jessie; James was held down by their golden yellow evolved forms; Meowth had to deal with three different types of Pokémon trapping him against the ground. They all struggled, but to no avail. The fairy fluttered up into the sky and shouted as she raised her arms: "Now toss 'em!" Instantly, the toothy Pokémon sent Team Rocket flying. As Team Rocket took to the air they heard a faint cry of: "Be sure to brush every night! Bad teeth don't get quarters!"

* * *

Wallace pushed a bright blue ball covered with pictures of Goldeen back towards Misty's Pokémon - for somewhere around the twentieth time that day. Pikachu had decided they would play a game of 'Roll the Ball,' but Psyduck had the ball pushed (more like thrown, kicked, whacked, and tossed) at its head quite often, causing it to have large headaches. In turn, the headaches usually caused Psyduck to toss the ball 15 feet into the air with a Confusion attack. The ball would then usually land near Wallace. Psyduck's headache would disperse, and it would call for Wallace to give them the ball back. Unfortunately for Wallace's pocketbook, sometimes Psyduck's headache would create a Psychic attack, causing the ball to explode. They were on their ninth ball at the moment.

"DUCK!" An explosion occurred. Wallace sighed. Make that their tenth. He looked in the ball bucket. There was still an inexpensive-looking Staryu ball left. He rolled it over, and they began comparing Misty's Staryu to the one on the ball. Staryu began to strike poses, clearly showing its superiority.

_'What could be taking Ash so long in there?'_ Wallace wondered. Then he smirked, an evil idea coming to mind. _'You know what? I think I'll find out for myself.'_ He quietly walked out of the room and towards Misty's bedroom.

He peeked into the room, and what he saw nearly made his jaw hit the floor. Ash was sitting next to an unconscious Misty, occasionally stroking her cheek or running his hand through her side Ponyta-tail. At one point, he even was playing around with the tie, half pulling it off before coming to his senses. Wallace shook his head. He pinched his arm. He pulled his eyelids out and let them fly back and hit his eyes painfully. The scene did not disappear, nor did it change before his eyes. This was really happening. Wallace got a small bit of what courage still lived in him after months around Misty, got out a camera so he could take a picture, and...

"Psy? Duck psyduck." Wallace clicked the camera shutter as he jumped 5 feet into the air.

"Don't do that!" He yelled, while somehow remaining quiet. Psyduck held out a popped ball decorated in Staryu. Wallace sighed. "Why'd you come to me about that?" He pointed at the door. "You'll disturb them." Psyduck floated into the air, its headache obviously having not worn off entirely, and looked inside.

"Duck!" It shouted, shocked. Wallace covered its beak, but the damage was done. Ash looked up and around, then quickly stood up, not wanting to be seen performing such an affectionate movement towards Misty. He had heard enough theories about his supposed 'love for Misty,' and he didn't need anyone finding any _more_ supposed 'proof' about it.

Then Ash took a look at the time on the Golduck clock. He looked towards the doorway, where Wallace and Psyduck were nervously hiding: Wallace sweating bullets at the thought of Ash finding them and Psyduck suffocating from the tight grip Wallace had on its beak and throat. Ash moved toward the door, then took a double take. "Ah! It's that late?" He cried quietly, just like Wallace had moments before. He started to head for the door, and Wallace quickly pulled Psyduck out of the way. Ash burst into the hall and rushed to the battle room. He grabbed Pikachu and raced out of the gym.

Wallace pulled Psyduck off his shirt, then pulled himself off the wall. The gym leader walked over to the door and eyed the dust stream that was Ash. He walked back inside, and into the doorway of Misty's room. He looked down at her, then at his camera. Wallace walked out of the room, muttering something about 'this being too perfect' as he eyed his camera promisingly.

* * *

"Nurse Joy, we've got a problem," Brock began, suddenly serious and unperturbed by the fact that Nurse Joy was right in front of him, and there was no ear-pulling munchkin or redhead to be seen. He pulled out a few chairs for the two of them to sit on, as he felt that there would be a long talk ahead of them.

"We do indeed," she added as she sat down into a folding chair. The Pokémon Nurse looked up at Brock as he looked down at her. She waited until he sat down and was comfortable, at which time she spoke.

"I know that Togepi." They said simultaneously. Brock was surprised at Nurse Joy's comment. "How could you know it? That Togepi belongs to my friend - "

" - Misty Waterflower." The Pokémon Nurse finished for Brock. He gaped in surprise. "How - "

"She actually works at the Sootopolis Gym. She's Wallace's assistance." The pink-haired nurse explained.

"_What?_" Brock shouted, standing up and knocking over his chair. Why would Misty have just left her gym without telling either of her two best friends in the world? It was just so…unlike her. Then again, they hadn't spoken for some time now. Brock had just figured Ash had made Misty mad, or she was really busy at the gym. He couldn't forget how rough it was running the gym himself, after his dad had left.

"Please Brock," Joy insisted. "Calm down. The real issue here isn't how we know Misty. It's how we're going to tell May that Togepi doesn't really belong to her." Brock's eyes widened as he realized the situation they had.

_Brock walked up to May, calm as could be. "Hey, May. We need to talk." May sat down under a tree, and Brock joined her. _

"Sure, Brock." May said, equally serene. "What about?"

"Well, you see, your Togepi actually belongs to a good friend of mine. So, you have to give it back." May stood up, her eyes turning to flames in her anger as she clenched her fists and glared at Brock. If looks could kill, Brock would have been dust five minutes ago and the sequoia behind him would have fallen on top of those ashes with a giant hole in the middle of its trunk.

"What_ are you talking about? I caught my Togepi _fair _and _square_! Who are _you _to tell _me _what to do with it?"_

As May continued to ramble on in Brock's mind, he winced in the real world. "Yeah...she wouldn't take that very well. When May gets mad enough, she could almost rival Misty." Brock sat back down. "So what we need..."

"...is a plan." They began to discuss possible ways of informing May of her Pokémon's true ownership, not realizing how close she was to finding out that very moment.

* * *

Wallace brushed a blue lock of hair out of his face, and looked at the glossed piece of paper in front of him. He smiled. The picture showed Ash sitting next to Misty and brushing his finger along her cheek. Both of them were blushing slightly; Ash at the knowledge of what he was doing, Misty unconsciously at the physical contact. Wallace's smile broadened even further. Ash never blushed. _Ever_. At least, so his source said. Which meant only one this about this photograph: _this_ was pure gold. The scenario was perfect as well: Misty would suffer romantic torture from all these people and he would get off scotch-free, a nameless, anonymous face in the crowd. Wallace took a look at another piece of paper lying on a nearby table. He would have killed to get this sheet, but Pikachu had handed it to him right after it shocked him at their first meeting. On it was the following:

Pokéshippers 

Gym Leaders

Brock

Misty's sisters

Daisy

Lily

Violet

Danny

Rudy

Other People

Melody

Tracey

Nurse Joy of Vermilion City

Team Rocket

Jessie

James

Pokémon

Togepi

Pikachu

Psyduck

Meowth (Team Rocket)

He couldn't very well give this to Psyduck; the water type had no e-mail address, and it had already seen the scene in any case. Wallace also doubted Pikachu or Togepi having e-mail addresses either; Brock or Tracey would have to show them the image. That left ten people and one Pokémon to e-mail (how Meowth managed to get an e-mail address, Wallace couldn't explain). Wallace took the picture and placed it on his computer's scanner. A white light going back and forth across the scanner showed the picture was being loaded. Wallace pulled the file out of a folder and opened his e-mail composing software. The Gym Leader attached it to an e-mail and began to type the e-mail addresses; there would be quite a few. Togepi had handed him the list of e-mails secretly at _their_ first meeting, though he did not know why at the time. Now, apparently, was the time.

"waterflowerblonde-at-gli-dot-not, waterflowerredhead-at-gli-dot-not, waterflowerbluehair-at-gli-dot-not," he muttered. "navelracer-at-gli-dot-not,legendmaiden-at-pe-dot-con, prepare4trouble-at-tr-dot-con, &makeitdouble-at-tr-dot-con, meowththatsright-at-tr-dot-con, sketchr-at-pe-dot-con, trovitadancer-at-gil-dot-not, thunderhealer-at-pe-dot-not...a lot of Pokémon Enthusiast users, aren't there?" Wallace spoke aloud. "A ton of Gym Leaders International users too. I guess the two of them had met a lot of gym leaders, with Ash entering so many competitions. Their reactions to this e-mail certainly will be interesting."

He continued typing a message, while reading it aloud to check for error. " 'Hello, people! Whether accidentally or purposely, you have somehow affected these two young ones in a way that makes it so you deserve to be the first to see this photo! Sorry if you wished this wasn't real, but I assure you of its authenticity. Enjoy!' " He paused, then looked the message over. " 'And e-mail to any other Pokéshippers you may know.' That sounds right." He moved the mouse slowly, so as to save this moment in his memory for posterity, and clicked the 'send' button. Wallace logged off his computer. Misty would kill him for this, but only if she found out. Besides, it would all be worthwhile in the end.

* * *

Max looked over at the door. Moments ago, Brock and Nurse Joy had entered that room and locked that door. Even more recently, Max had heard a shocked cry of "_What?_" come from the room, shouted in Brock's voice. But now, only a slight murmur could be heard.

Max looked down at the container Brock had dropped. It read 'Misty's Togepi's Pokémon Food - Highly revolting to all other Pokémon.' Max took off his glasses, rubbed them with his shirt, and looked at it again. When the words were the same, Max rubbed his eyes and looked again. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. If this label was to be believed, May's Togepi was this 'Misty' person's Togepi as well, whoever 'Misty' was.

"Wha'cha looking at, Max?" May asked suddenly. Max jumped up, then hid the jar behind his back. Max had forgotten his sister had just gone to the bathroom. He swore to himself that he would never let May see the tin; she would be devastated if she figured out what it meant.

"Nothing!" He said quickly. A bit too quickly for anyone to believe to be true. Especially when the one the "nothing" was said to was related to the speaker. Siblings can always see through such lies; May was no exception.

"Sure..." May said, obviously unconvinced. She sneakily opened Bulbasaur's Pokéball and signaled with her right hand for it to get the jar with a vine whip. The Seed Pokémon succeeded in its mission and handed over the goods to its trainer.

"Agh!" Max shouted upon discovering his hands were empty. "May, don't!"

But it was too late. May was already reading the label, and she wasn't looking too happy about it...not happy at all...

* * *

Yay! I'm glad has a new way of doing things; I had no idea that it saved old reviews when you deleted a chapter! I don't have to scour my e-mails to find them all now. -smiles-

I think this is a pretty close update…for me, anyway. -sweatdrops- Here are your replies…

Warlordess: Ah…I guess I forgot to put that in, and didn't notice. Well, Togepi can only Teleport so many tines before it exhausts all energy. At the moment May found it, the li'l egg was recovering from having completed multiple Teleports in a row. And the egg was lacking in energy anyway, having left so suddenly that it could not prepare itself or supply any food for later in the trip. That's kind of why the battle was so short; Togepi used up its energy in one Metronome…and I kinda was really bad at doing battles back when I wrote it. And I was too lazy to try and rewrite it. -sweatdrops- Me, lazy…go figure. -smirks- You really think Wallace reacted like you would? That's funny—I never thought anyone would act so ridiculously. Of course, I don't mean to say that _you _in your amazingly high supremecy to me are ridiculous. -sweatdrops- You is far to kind to me; I am nowhere near to your greatness, even if you disagree. However -strikes noble pose- I will attempt to not fail you! -falls over- I'm not very good at this "noble pose" thing, am I? -laughs-

TogepiStars: -cheers- New reader! Hoo-rah! I attempt to come close to how the anime is in reality. Sadly, I think I add too much humor. However, no one complains, so I am alright with it. -smiles- I explained above why the battle was so short—I originally wrote this like…um…-checks-…August or July of last year. I only just decided to post it here now, and there have been only minor changes…I'm glad you think it will be interesting to find out. Spelling errors? Grammatical errors? Where! -searches- I don't see anything! Oh! You're still here? -sweatdrops- Sorry, I'm like fifth in line for title of Grammar Guru or Spelling Police when it comes to desperately looking for the errors. And fixing them. I'm glad you thought it was hilarious. What about this chapter? Did I make a good choice in 'toothy Pokémon' for the Tooth Fairy? Misty wake up? I had that once…but it didn't work out for the story in its entity, having Misty know how romantic Ash suddenly became…and here's more to read!

Ri2: Probably because your name is so short. I read some of your story; quite nice, with a bit of—is that Altoshipping? (I forget the name)—and much darkness. I didn't have time to read past the first chapter or two, and the fact that I didn't get to see the movie with Latias in it doesn't help in me understanding it. However, it seems to be written by a very good writer. -winks- Hmm…an excellent idea, and I imagine it would have worked better. However…this way makes it seem like a huge conspiracy against Team Rocket by demi-godly creatures of childhood instead of just one Santa's revenge. I believe you are correct in your rememberings…poor her. You liked that? Good for me; I added that part spur-of-the-moment in my editing for posting. You're welcome; I found that to be the easiest spot, so when I did my other edits I added it in. Ash finished his sentence, where he was explaining why he was crashing into Wallace at the gym in the first place. I accidentally put a divider line between them somehow. If you'll check again, you'll see I changed it. I'll try my best!

Hakajin: So, you didn't realize that this was S-CoL until _after_ you read your way through the first four chapters. -eyes water- I had no idea this story slipped so easily out of your mind. And yet you say its good! -sobs river tears- You are much too kind to me! And I will!

Antithesis: Togepi's trying to get back to Misty. It knew already (thanks to continued contact with Pikachu) that Ash was heading back to Sootopolis. So it figured that if May was going to Ash, she would unintentionally be going to Misty, where Togepi could recuperate and regain energy before going back to meet with the Supreme Togetic. And possibly hitch a safer, less battle-filled ride. I had it in talk before editing, but I decided to remove Pokémon talking and summarized the explanation. I suppose it is unlike Ash, but was he not the least bit romantic around Giselle or someone else? -shrugs- Regardless, I made him slightly romantic for this one scene.

RoseRosa: Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I am.

Michael Bulaich: Thanks. Will do. -lighter-

Please go down to your left, press and depress your mouse on the purple-blue button there, and tell me how I'm doing. Also, kudos to any and all whocan matchup the e-mail addresses to their counterparts on the list. Also also, kudos to your patience if you read through the e-mail addresses. To get them to show I had to have Wallace sound each 'dot' and 'at' out. -sighs- That took awhile.

Jaa, mata!

gladdecease


	6. Rocket Capture, Ransomed Battle

_The First Awakening_

**Chapter Six**

**-**

"...so that's what we do?" Nurse Joy finished questioning.

"I think so." Brock replied. He stood up and unlocked the door. Immediately, Max ran in and shut the door. He looked up at Brock, panting slightly.

"May's on a rampage!" He cried out. "She found that jar of yours that you gave Togepi some food out of and read the label. Even _she's_ got enough brains to see that the label implies that her Togepi isn't hers at all." Brock and Nurse Joy sweatdropped.

"So much for breaking to her gently..." Max gawked at the breeder and nurse in front of him. His eyes were wide behind his glasses as he tried to calm down and listen to what Brock and Joy had to tell him.

Brock informed Max about Togepi's past with Misty. The hatching he found fascinating, and Max was mesmerized by its attacks. He found it hilarious that they had mistaken its attacks for Psyduck's, saying, "_I_ would have been able to tell the difference!" Then Nurse Joy started talking.

Brock and Max listened closely to her explanation. A few months before, she said, she had received a call from her third cousin once removed in Cerulean City. She had called to gossip, as she usually did. This time, she was telephoning to tell about the problem the Cerulean Gym Leaders were having. It seemed that the youngest hadn't wanted to be a gym leader in the first place, but had been forced to when the others went on a trip around the world. Once they were back, it turned out she wanted to stay a gym leader. Daisy, Lily, and Violet had eventually made a compromise - she could be the official gym leader, _if_ she would first be another gym leader's assistant for a year, or until they decided she was good enough to be a gym leader on her own. "My cousin was also calling to ask if I thought Wallace would take an assistant." Nurse Joy continued. "Misty was allowed to choose which gym she would want to train at first, but she needed a group of gyms to choose from. Wallace would gladly accept an assistant, so I let her know. Later on, I found out which other gyms had been in the list."

As Nurse Joy continued to reveal, the Trovita Gym eagerly awaited Misty as an assistant, which caused Brock to snort and mumble "I wouldn't doubt that" as did the Coastline Gym, even though it wasn't an official gym. Sootopolis was the last one. Apparently, the Cerulean Joy had said, Misty was incredibly interested in a Hoenn Gym, causing Brock to chuckle so Sootopolis was the obvious choice. She had been quite an asset to the gym, her water Pokémon doing very well in gym battles, her Psyduck especially giving a surprise ending to any match "I wouldn't have called it that," said Brock. "Just dumb luck and a headache.". "And of course," Nurse Joy finished. "She took that Togepi of hers everywhere. I would recognize it anywhere, no matter whose arms it was in."

In the silence that followed Nurse Joy's enlightenment, they suddenly noticed a banging noise against the door. Quickly realizing how long they had been talking, Brock opened the door. May fell in, cheeks redden and hair frazzled. She got up and looked up, enraged.

"What was that about? _First,_ you grab my Togepi and feed it something, _then_ you lock me out of my own bedroom, _then_ I discover you fed it something only one Pokémon is supposed to like, and it still ate it, _THEN_..." She stopped talking and just panted for a bit, her hands on her thighs. Nurse Joy walked over to her, and patted her on the back.

"Calm down, May," she said soothingly. "Now let us explain..." She gently brought May over to a chair and sat her down.

May sniffled. "Alright...gosh, I feel silly. Shouting and screaming like that was ridiculous."

"No arguments here..." Max mumbled. May glared at him, a stress mark apparent on her forehead.

"I didn't say you had to _agree_ with me, Max." She said angrily. "Anyway, go ahead Nurse Joy..." Nurse Joy and Brock proceeded to tell May of Togepi's true owner. About halfway through the story, Max interrupted.

"Did you say Misty _Waterflower_?" Max asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Weren't you listening before?"

"I didn't hear a last name before. Was _she_ the person Ash battled for the Cascade Badge?" He wondered. "The one Pikachu wouldn't battle?" Brock smiled.

"Yeah, that was Misty..." They finished the tale soon enough, and May was left speechless.

"We really need to take Togepi back to Misty, May." Nurse Joy finished. "Togepi needs its mother, and Misty is the closest thing to that." When May seemed slightly unsure, she added, "Well, could you at least consider it?" May nodded.

"Yeah, I'll think about it." She said at last. _'Well, I've thought about it. I'm not letting Togepi out of my sight again. I caught it, so it's mine. Not hers, mine.'_ She finished resolutely in her mind. _'And that's the end of that.'_

"Well, now that that's settled with, I'll heal your Pokémon." Nurse Joy said. After healing them, Nurse Joy pointed out a way to reach the gym quickly. Suddenly, they heard a sound. It went like this: "Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call! Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!" Nurse Joy quickly answered the phone. "Yes? Oh, yes, he's here." She covered the mouthpiece and quietly said. "It for you, Brock."

"Yes?" He wondered, looking at the screen. On it was a young man with greenish-black hair and a headband across his forehead. "Hey, Tracey!"

"Hey, Brock!" Tracey responded. Then he smirked, an almost evil grin on his face. "You'll never believe what I got in an e-mail a few minutes ago." He held up a printed-out e-mail. On it was a picture of Ash sitting on a bed next to a sleeping Misty. He was - this made Brock's jaw drop - touching Misty's cheek. Tracey peeked around it and chuckled at Brock's face. "That's what _I_ thought of it. The guy who sent it said it was taken earlier today. I figured you would want to see it. Tell them I send my best wishes." He sniggered, then burst out laughing for a moment before he severed the connection.

Brock looked away from the computer, smiling broadly. "I think we'll wait a bit before going to the gym."

-

Ash was running. Again. He had the strangest feeling that Brock, Max and May were waiting for him, and he didn't want to keep them waiting. As he raced along the path, he realized he was now in the woods, or in a park, or something like that. As soon as he registered this, he began to notice that the path was sinking below him. The path completely disappeared beneath him as he and Pikachu cried out.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"It's Team Rocket!" Ash called out. Above him, Team Rocket almost facefaulted.

"Do you mind?" Jessie shouted angrily.

"We've been blasted off by Santa and the Tooth Fairy!" James cried out. "The least you can do is let us finish our motto!" Ash and Pikachu sweatdropped.

"Okay...go ahead..." Ash mumbled awkwardly. Jessie cleared her throat.

"Now, where was I? Oh, yes. To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!" A large red 'R' appeared behind the duo of troublemakers.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth has a headache from does bite attacks." Ash and Pikachu sweatdropped as Jessie and James pounded the heck out of Meowth for ruining the motto. Moments later, a bruised and beaten Meowth stood up shakily and said, "Meowth, that's right," before falling slowly to the ground. Jessie and James glared angrily at Ash for a moment before he quickly added, "Team Rocket!" followed shortly by a "Pi pikachu!"

"Well, let's get to work," Jessie stated excitedly. Meowth pulled a glove out of nowhere, like always, and fired.

"I bet you'll g-_love_ this one!" The glove closed around Pikachu, and pulled it to Team Rocket.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried out. Ash started climbing up the side of the hole  
crazily. Finally, he reached the top just as Team Rocket pulled a bag over his head. He exclaimed his surprise intelligibly through the bag's mesh material as they carried him off, Meowth chasing after Jessie and James, holding a glass jar with Pikachu in it above its head. The electric mouse used Thundershock once or twice, but Meowth just laughed. "Don't you learn, Pikachu? The jar's shockproof, as usual."

Jessie smirked. For once, it seemed that a plan was going to work. They had lured the twerp into a false sense of security by using the ol' glove-grabs-Pikachu way of capture. Then, they took the twerp captive too, and would use him as bait for the twerpette, whom they knew was around, thanks to a recent e-mail. Then they would use that e-mail to embarrass them to no end. Sweet, sweet revenge. Plus, they would finally get the twerp's Pikachu for the boss. Everything was going perfectly.

Pikachu was put into a dark room, the only door locked and disguised as a part of the wall. Even if Pikachu _did_ escape its jar, chances were it wouldn't be able to find its way out of the room.

Soon enough, Ash was locked firmly in place in front of a wide-screen TV. Right now, all it was showing was a screen of static. However, it would soon be showing a much more _interesting_ show.

-

Once Wallace was done sending his e-mail, he went to Misty's room and shook her awake. She bashed him on the head for waking her up, against the rules then they talked for a bit. Wallace was sure to leave Ash's name out of the conversation. That was definitely _not_ something to talk of...yet...

He _did_, however mention Misty's affections towards Ash, hinting at Ash's side of the relationship more than usual. Suddenly, and without warning, he stood up and left the room.

Misty sat on her bed and thought for a long time about the stuff Wallace had said. What if he was right? What then...? She sighed, turned around on the bed, and flopped onto her stomach. She wasn't sure of _anything_ anymore, and this wasn't helping...

Out in the hall, Wallace smiled as he walked to the battle room. He had gotten Misty thinking, wondering if Ash might care like she did. With any luck, he wouldn't be killed quite as much if Ash was added into the equation. Of course, he might also be just killed faster..."I need to increase my insurance. I think..."

"Psy?" Psyduck asked. Wallace smiled even more, if possible.

"I got her thinking. It'll happen soon enough." Psyduck tilted its head, then frowned. It shook its head. "Psy yai yai...duck." The duck Pokémon glowed blue, then a popped orange ball plastered with pictures of Starmie rose in front of it. Wallace sighed. "Another one already?" He looked inside the ball bucket. Empty. "Find something else to play."

"They won't have too long to play." Misty said. "Return, Psyduck, Staryu, Gyarados, Starmie, Goldeen, Corsula, Politoed, Horsea."

"Where are you going, Misty?" Wallace asked, a smirk splashed across his face. Her answer was short and unclear.

"Out." She walked out the door and in front of her laid a note. It was entitled 'To the Twerpette.' Misty frowned. She knew the only people who called her by that name way too well, but what would they be writing to her for? She broke the seal and unfolded the note. As her eyes traveled across the paper, her frown of confusion turned into a gasp of worry and concern.

"Ash..." she whispered. After ripping off a small part of the letter and tearing it into miniscule pieces, Misty dropped the letter carelessly and rushed off towards the woods, hoping she wasn't too late. The letter fell open on the doorstep, and as the sun shone down,one would be able to easily see a few words at the top of the page:

_Twerpette, we have the twerp..._

-

"She's taking too long, Jessie." James complained.

"Just you wait, James." Jessie said quietly. "If I know the twerpette like I _think_ I know the twerpette, she'll be here." She lifted a walkie-talkie to her mouth. "Anything on cameras, Meowth?" The feline Pokémon, which was watching three monitors, quickly responded, "Nothin' on any of 'em, Jessie. I'm not sure she's com - wait a minute!" It peered at the uppermost screen. There was a small blue dot floating down from the sky. "I don't believe it!" Meowth cried. "She's ridin' down on dat Gyarados o' hers!"

"What?" Jessie and James cried out. "Is that supposed to happen?" James shrieked.

Suddenly, Jessie calmed down. "It's alright, James. It doesn't matter _how_ she gets here. Now that she's here, our plan can finally commence." She chuckled. James frowned, then opened his mouth as if to argue. However, a door burst open, and in stormed Misty.

Ash's eyes widened. Through the gag covering his mouth, he cried, "Misty?"

Pikachu heard a loud boom and then a shout. It smiled and muttered, "Pikachupi."

"Where's Ash? What have you done to him?" Misty yelled anxiously. Jessie tsked, shaking her finger, reprimanding Misty for her quick temper mockingly.

"Now now, twerpette. Your boyfriend's just fine - for now."

Nearly identical cries of "He's/I'm not my/her boyfriend" echoed through the building. Ash, however, somehow took the time to notice that Misty's face was redder than normal. _'Must be something wrong with the system...'_ he thought offhandedly. Meowth, upon seeing the same scene, cracked up and called Jessie to double-check that he was seeing the real thing.

"Oh, but you're blushing!" James teased. Jessie punched his head in briefly before resuming her speech.

"Regardless, we have a proposition for you, twerpette." Misty calmed down slightly and stopped blushing, indicating that she was listening. "We have a Pokémon battle, 6 on 6. Since you have more Pokémon than a normal trainer because you're a gym leader, it should be no problem for you." Misty considered the issue. She had beaten Team Rocket quite easily in the past, and no offense to them, but they were idiots. Stubborn gutsy foolish idiots, but idiots nonetheless. They would send a Charmander against a Blastoise if that was the only Pokémon they had.

Jessie continued. "If we win, we keep your twerp boyfriend -" "- Not my boyfriend -" Misty muttered, her face tinged with pink. "- and Pikachu, along with your Pokémon."

"And if _I_ win?"

"You get your boyfriend -" "- not my boyfriend -" "- back, Pikachu back, and we go blasting off as usual." Misty thought once more about it. She was done in seconds.

"I accept."

-

Well, so much for posting again really soon. And with all the time I've had on my hands…let's just blame this on my lack of creative juices recently, and leave it at that, shall we?

RoseRosa: I suppose you found out this chapter, didn't you. Sorry for taking so long, but late is better than never, right?

Zimmie: 'Lo! Noticed the slight name change; someone already have the y on when you signed up? Or did someone have the ie when you got to serebii? -searches- I misspelled those Pokémon names? Darn, and here I thought I was doing pretty good for myself. Faulty space bar? Not that I know of, but I'll look into it. Maybe replace chapters with the correct spellings, once the entire story's been posted, you know? Well, thanks for reviewing, and for pointing out my mistakes. I appreciate it!

Ri2: I noticed the one-sided-ness. I suppose, if I have the time…I mean, you saw how long it took me to update tFA, and I already wrote all this out. Reading a new story, well…-sees sad face- Aw, I'm just kidding. The millisecond I can get time, I'll take a look. K?

Santa blasted them off into the air, and they went so far that they landed in Tooth Fairy Headquarters, wherever that is. I didn't really specify…honestly, I just wanted a conspiracy against those three by people that most don't believe exist. That way, in this chapter, they would sound quite pathetic when making excuses for themselves.

Psyduck is the bestest! -would huggle, but doesn't huggle normally- I know it's dumb as sliced bread, but I still like it! Besides Politoed, it's one of the few Pokémon Misty has with an obvious personality. Not like Ash, who has all sorts of stubborn, loyal, and unusual Pokémon. And I always liked the combination of psychic and water (to be revealed further in the sequel).

Yes, Wallace _is _hilarious. That's how I made him, and that picture will haunt Ash and Misty until…well, until I feel like stopping. As I recall, Daisy, Lily, and Violet got their chance to tease recently in my writings, and Ash and Misty cursed Wallace for all the world to hear. -smirks- I just enjoy torturing those three; Wallace with my own evil desires to humiliate and embarrass, Ash and Misty with the humiliation I enjoy to write.

Warlordess: You awake now? Well, no worries about the late review; it means people still notice a few days after I update that I did, indeed, update. I think you might have to spell it out for me, actually.

See, I'll spell it for you: TALENT + LOTSA GOOD PLOTS + NO MISTAKES + WHATEVER ELSE YOU DO BEFORE YOU POST A much better author than me. -sticks out tongue- So there.

Is this soon? -sweatdrops- Well, it's an update, in any case.

I hope to update sooner than last time, but I wouldn't count on it if I were you.

Ja, mata!

gladdecease


	7. Defence Destruction, Sudden Entrance

**The First Awakening**

Chapter 7

**---**

"Very well, twerpette," Jessie said quietly, pulling a Pokéball out of nowhere. She was calm and cool as a cucumber, though she hadn't seen one in her life to know how cool to be. "Let's get things started. If you want to save your boyfriend so badly, Ho-oh forbid I should stop you from trying."

Misty tinged pink and muttered "He's _not_ my _boyfriend_," although it seemed to be said mostly to herself.

"But first," the Rocket agent added, pointing downwards, "Would you be an absolute _dear _and take a look at the field for a moment, please?" Ignoring the sugary sweetness of Jessie's tone, Misty glanced down at the floor, which, to her amazement, began to shift and morph through the means of some mechanical device underneath, most likely similar to that of the Indigo Pokémon League. Half of the field became dusty and coated with dirt. The other side became a small pool, filled with water standard for a Water-type Gym. Some bright, multicolored floats appeared out of nowhere and began to glide across the water's surface. "The water side will be yours, of course. The ground side is mine. Are we all clear? Good. Now go, Cacnea!" With that, Jessie threw the grass-type's Pokéball. The white energy that came out of the red and white sphere swirled around and formed a green, spike-covered shape with a small yellow crown on top. The Pokémon cried its name as Misty frowned. Her Pokémon would be weak against a grass type like Cacnea, unless...the Gym Leader smiled. This cactus was toast, and it hadn't a clue.

"Misty calls on Gyarados!" The blue dragon type quickly appeared in the water, having learned to come fast when summoned after all the gym battles it had been used in. "Use Flamethrower!" Misty commanded. A burst of fire came from the atrocious Pokémon's mouth, and headed straight for Cacnea. Jessie hadn't ordered anything from the Cactus Pokémon, so it just stood there, waiting to be commanded. It was as James had told it before the battle: _"Do what Jessie says, or we'll all suffer!"_

Misty was already thinking up snide remarks to toss Jessie's way at not having her Pokémon even do anything as it was being fried to a crisp. Suddenly, Gyarados stopped the attack, thrashing around in the water and crying out in pain. "_What?_" Misty was stunned. Then she noticed sparks running along Gyarados' body. "It's an electric current. But how?" Jessie smirked, then laughed briefly, holding her head up high.

"Like the special features we added?" Jessie asked. "Any time your Pokémon don't use an attack specific to their type, they get shocked. So, good luck defeating Cacnea. You'll need it." Misty growled deep in her throat.

"I don't know why I'm surprised. I should have known you would pull a rotten trick like this." Then she chuckled. "Oh, well. Hydro Pump!" Gyarados struggled to an upright position, then unleashed a torrent of water at Cacnea. "Not even a grass type can entirely deflect an attack _that_ powerful." Misty said proudly. "Gyarados'll knock it out for sure." As the spray from the attack cleared, it became clear that Cacnea was—unharmed. "_What?_ That—that's impossible!"

"Oh, did I forget to mention the _other_ special feature of this field?" Misty glared at Jessie as the Rocket agent continued. "Silly me; it must have slipped my mind. You see, my Pokémon are protected from all attacks capable of knocking them out with one blast. You'll have to stick to weak water attacks, if you want to have a chance of winning, before your Pokémon are knocked out, at least."

"_Fine._" Misty considered this for a minute or two. "Use rain dance, Gyarados." The blue Pokémon moved around, and the very top of the room became overcast with storm clouds. The rain clouds gushed water, and there was soon almost no difference between the sides of the field except for the few patches of mud to be seen through the puddles of water. Jessie moaned about her makeup and hair being ruined as Misty cried, "Now use Dragon Rage!" Jessie stopped complaining for a moment, if only to mock.

"Weren't you listening?" Jessie asked scornfully. "You won't be able to save your boyfriend if you slip up like—huh?" Surprisingly, Gyarados was performing the Dragon Rage successfully, and Cacnea was getting electrocuted and pounded against by the dragon-type attack. "How—"

"Gyarados is a _flying_ type, remember? When it doesn't touch the water, it doesn't get shocked. The charge, however, continues along the path of the water until it shocks something else—and Cacnea is standing in a large puddle of water connected to the pool by a trickle coming from it." Jessie looked down, and it was fact; Cacnea was standing soaked in a large puddle directly connected to the pool. Misty turned to the side and added, "besides, he's _not_ my boyfriend."

Cacnea would have been tired after facing either the Dragon Rage or the electric shock. So it seemed natural that, having faced their powers combined, it could barely stand up to the rain, let alone another attack. However, Jessie was determined to not let the twerpette win this time. Her eyes filled with a firey determination as she lifted an arm high and shouted, "Use Needle Arm, Cacnea!" One of Cacnea's arms glowed white. The Cactus Pokémon lifted off the ground and flew into the air, going up to Gyarados' eye level and punching the Atrocious Pokémon in the side of the head, causing serious damage to Misty's Pokémon.

"Gyarados!" Misty cried out to her Pokémon, getting as close to the edge of the trainer stand as she could and reaching out over the edge to her Pokémon.

"Another Needle Arm!" Jessie cried. The second punch made a direct hit, as Gyarados was too shocked to move out of the way. "Keep it up!" Cacnea continued to hit Gyarados until it was rendered unconscious.

"Return, Gyarados." Misty said quietly, her bangs covering her eyes as Gyarados morphed into a red colored energy and slipped back into it Pokéball.

"Meowth! All right Jessie! Ya took care o' her Gyarados! Dat's her best one! Keep it up, and da Boss'll be sure to hand out huge bonuses all around!" The talking Meowth shouted its overtly loud congratulations into the redhead's earphone. Jessie winced at the decibel levels, ignored them, and looked back at the twerpette.

"Well? Choose your next Pokémon." Misty stared angrily at the member of Team Rocket standing in front of her. Jessie was a no-good cheat...and she probably didn't even deserve to be called a name like _that_. Cheaters probably had morals higher than those of Team Rocket.

"Alright," she called out, enlarging a Pokéball as she spoke. "Let's go!"

**---**

"_Please_, Brock?" Max begged, down on his knees, head bent over and arms clasped together in front of his head. "Please please please _please_?" Brock sighed. He had run out of excuses to prolong the time Ash and Misty had together in any case.

"Fine," he announced, defeated. "Let's go."

"Alright! Did you hear that, May? We're going to the gym!" May looked up from the romance novel she had been reading. Erased her thoughts of a certain green-haired coordinator, she marked her page and stood up, stuffing the book into her fannypack.

"Great, Brock," the brunette cried out. With that, she picked up Togepi and began to walk out the door. "Let's go!" The trio of travelers walked out of the Pokémon Center immediately. Nurse Joy stood just outside the door and watched them go off, hoping the sinking feeling in her heart was nothing.

Soon enough, the group was standing in front of the Sootopolis Gym. Max walked up to the door and knocked three times. An almost scared-sounding voice called to them from inside, stuttering slightly.

"Who—who's there?" Brock stepped up to the door so whoever was inside would be able to hear him better.

"We're here looking for Ash Ketchum. Have you seen...?" Brock trailed off as the door opened partially. It revealed a man with sky blue hair and a white hat like a short chef's hat perched on his head. He looked over the three, and paused when he saw Brock.

"Squinted eyes…brown skin and naturally spiked hair…it couldn't be…are you Brock?" He asked incredulously. "Misty had said you went back to Pewter City..." He slapped a hand over his mouth. "I said too much, didn't I," he muttered, smacking his head. A few slaps later, the man looked up, as if only just remembering the others were there. At the moment, they were sweatdropping heavily, not knowing how to react to the man's slightly abusive actions. He joined them, apologizing for his odd behavior.

Brock wondered, "How do _you_ know Misty?"

The blue haired man opened the door the whole way and laughed, saying, "Didn't I introduce myself? Well, maybe you'll recognize me now." Max's eyes widened at the man's appearance. And who could blame him? The man was a pretty strange sight.

He was decked out in deep blue bell-bottom pants. Over top of that was a purple shirt with wide, white sleeves, a overly large white collar, and white shirttails. He struck a pose and twirled a Pokéball on his finger like it was a basketball. Max gasped in shock and cried out, "It—it's you! _You're_ Wallace, the Sootopolis Gym leader!" May and Brock recoiled in shock from the comment as Wallace nodded and tossed the Pokéball, revealing a Milotic. It fanned out its tail attractively and shimmered brilliantly, obviously well trained. May's jaw dropped at the beauty of such a Pokémon that she had only seen the likes of once from afar at a contest.

"It…it's beautiful." Wallace bowed, accepting the remark graciously. He called back his Milotic and turned to thank May when he noticed the Pokémon in May's arms. It was _his_ turn to drop his jaw, as Togepi trilled happily and waved at the gym leader.

"_Togepi?_ Bu—bu—bu—that's impo—impo—" Wallace found himself unable to finish the sentence due to shock, so he began anew. "Who are you, and why do you have Misty's Togepi? It had left to find the supreme Togetic and help it somehow…or something like that." May's eyes narrowed and the sky darkened behind her as she opened her mouth. Before thunder began to crackle and the coordinator could get a word out, Max pushed her in the middle of her back, causing her to move into the gym. Wallace realized his mistake and invited Brock in as well. When they were all settled, he began talking again.

"Misty was supposed to be my apprentice, but she was really more of a friend to me than anything else. Everyone in this town thinks I'm above them and don't care about them...did you have that happen to you, Brock?" The Pokémon Breeder nodded.

"Yeah. I acted cold enough without them alienating me, and I was treated almost like a superior being whenever one _actually_ talked to me. It was a bit scary; people respect you too much, like you're on a different plane." Wallace nodded consolingly.

"Well, it was like that for me, only worse than yours was, I imagine. You had a family to treat you like a normal person, but I had no one. I was thrilled when I heard Misty wanted to come here; I would have someone to talk to. It actually ended up being that _she_ told _me_ about her life, her sisters, her friends, her crush..._fudge it!_" Wallace smacked himself across the head, knocking his poofy hat off as Brock leaned forward, suddenly five hundred times his normal attentiveness. "I'm not saying anymore about that topic," Wallace ended firmly, though whether it was to himself or to Brock remained unclear. "I'm in enough trouble without being malleted, ear-tugged, and punched to death because I told you she liked A—Nope! Not gonna say it! Not gonna say it!" The gym leader massaged his temples for a moment before continuing.

"We've gotten along pretty well, considering what she's told me about the bodily ham she's caused in her days to you and Ash. Around noontime yesterday, a Pikachu scampered in. Later, when Misty told me what happened, she said it was Ash's Pikachu. I've heard plenty about him, and was curious as to how his Pikachu could be here. Later, Pikachu came back, followed by a black-haired boy wearing a blue vest and a red and green hat. They went into this room, the main battle room," Wallace said as he showed them into the room. Max and Brock gasped at the giganticness of the room, then let the Gym leader continue his tale. "He stayed for only a few minutes, because as soon as he found out that Misty was around, he said, and I quote, '_She's_ here? I can't see her now! Not yet!' Then he took Pikachu into the hall, where they talked a bit longer, I guess. Shortly after those two left, Togepi had to leave to see the supreme Togetic, which I assume it never accomplished." After a glare from May, Wallace ended _that_ topic.

"And I thought _Misty_ was mean, sheesh...anyway, a little later, Pikachu came back and kept Misty company for a while. When Ash came back a few hours after that, we met face-to-face. Earlier, I had just heard him speak from another room; he certainly was loud enough. He went into Misty's room, and was in there for awhile. I peeked in and got a _sweet_ picture of—I should stop talking about that," Wallace muttered quickly, noticing Brock's eyes light up. "Anyway, after he left, I talked to Misty for a bit. Then she went outside. She bent over and picked something up off the ground, then she gasped and sped off. When I went outside, all I found was this..." He held out a note folded up and labeled: 'To the Twerpette.'

May frowned.

"Why would _Misty_ get a note addressed to me? _I'm_ the twerpette, according to _them,_ anyway." Brock shook his head, suddenly straying from his normal humorous nature.

"_Misty_ was the original twerpette, May. Somehow, _they_ must have known she was here." Wallace was in the dark during this conversation.

"Who's _'they'_?" Brock turned to Wallace, and a deep, mysterious look came over his face.

"_They_ are Team Rocket." Wallace gasped and stepped backwards instinctively, shocked at what he had heard. Having absorbed the information, he lifted a hand to his face and placed a finger against a cheek, cupping his chin with his hand.

"Um…who?" Brock, Max, and May facefaulted. Max muttered an answer into the ground. "A bunch of Pokémon thieves." Wallace smiled weakly.

"Okay, then...what do you make of this letter?" Brock sat up and crossed his eyes to see the creased piece of paper now in front of his nose. He pulled it out of Wallace's hands and took a better look at it. Max and May peeked over his shoulders to see the message. The three friends paled. This was _not_ good.

The letter was short and to the point:

_Twerpette, _

_We have the twerp and Pikachu. If you ever want to see any of them ever again, you will come to one of our familiar places of residence. Hurry up, your—the paper here was furiously torn out, leaving a blank spot—is waiting. _

_Team Rocket_

Brock looked the note over a second time, then cupped his chin with his hand. "A familiar place of residence..." he muttered. Max looked up at him worriedly, adjusting his glasses as he wondered aloud.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Brock remained silent for a few minutes more before snapping his fingers and jumping up.

"I think I know. Come on, guys!" Max and May jumped up and they ran out of the gym, calling a short farewell to Wallace. He watched them from where he stood for a moment, then slowly shook his head. _'If I ever want to get out of this alive, I'm gonna have to get a higher amount life insurance before Misty comes back.'_

May, who had been skulking behind Brock and Max, finally sped up so she was next to Brock. "Are you sure we can trust Wallace, Brock," she whispered confidentially. "Even though he's a gym leader? There was a lot of stuff he wouldn't tell us…I don't think I trust him." Brock laughed.

"You just don't like him 'cause he said Togepi belonged to Misty, May." May turned red with slight embarrassment and frustration.

"That—that's ridiculous! It's just that...something about him doesn't feel right to me, that's all!"

"Yeah, that..._and_ you just don't like him." May slowed down until she was at the back of the lineup again, silently fuming at Brock. Max took her place up front. "Brock?" The Pokémon Breeder in question looked down at his friend.

"What is it, Max?" Max scratched his head, as if trying to figure out a way to say something awkward in a way that wouldn't awkward.

"Are you sure we're not walking into a trap?" Brock looked mildly surprised for a moment, then smiled.

"Actually, Max, I have no idea. But, if it's either walk into a trap to save Ash, Pikachu, and Misty, or have us be safe and them doomed, there's no question in my mind which one I'd pick." Max seemed confused for a moment, but he smiled and nodded.

"That makes sense...I guess you care a lot about them, huh?"

"You have no idea...well, this is it." May, playing with Togepi, didn't notice they had stopped until she bumped into Brock. She poked her head around his back, and looked around bewilderedly.

"Where's _here_?" All she could see was a clearing in the middle of a forest they had started walking in a few minutes before. That, and a few fake looking bushes as well as a small log cabin. "Is that house 'here'?" One of the bushes suddenly rose into the air, revealing some kind of defense system. As Brock pushed Max and May to the ground, nets fired over their heads, crisscrossing and wrapping around a few trees behind the group. Brock nodded.

"Oh, yeah. This is _definitely_ it."

**---**

For the last few minutes, Meowth had been busy enjoying the battle, what with the twerpette, who had bossed the Cat Pokémon around in a way almost reminiscent of Jessie, losing desperately to Jessie. Too busy, in fact, to pay attention to the other monitors surrounding it. A sudden alarm sounding off on one of the screens changed that. The cat Pokémon looked at the offending screen, and was shocked to see the 'odder twerps.' They were within 3 yards of the aboveground entrance.

"How did dose twoips get so close to da house?" The talking Pokémon wondered aloud. Looking around for something to blame, it noticed that the 'auto-defense system' had been switched to 'off' by the barrel of popcorn Meowth had placed on the control panel when the match started to keep hunger from making him miss a moment of this victory. Meowth sweatdropped. "Whad'ya know..." The cat Pokémon pushed the switch back into the 'on' position. He went back to watching the battle, ignorant of the fact that half of the defenses had already been neutralized, thanks to a Metronome by Togepi.

Misty grimaced as she returned yet another Pokémon. Things were definitely not looking good. After Gyarados had been taken down, Corsula had been a big help against the grass type Jessie had used. Cacnea had fallen, but not before Corsula was severely weakened. A Recover helped, but only to make sure Corsula got an extra shock before the next round.

Dustox had been next, and had taken care of Corsula with a well-aimed Psybeam.

Now, after Corsula, Misty had chosen Politoed, which did pretty well with a few Double Slaps and a jump in the air to avoid being shocked. Dustox was quickly knocked out, but Politoed was very weak when Seviper was revealed. Misty, though she would have rather not done it, commanded Politoed to use Perish Song. It was a sacrifice, but it had to be made in order to save Ash. Politoed was uneasy about using an attack it had only learned recently, but understood Misty's reasoning. Jessie, unaware as to what Perish Song did, commanded Seviper to use Poison Tail. Politoed dodged it by less than an inch. Infuriated that such a weakened Pokémon could still avoid an attack, Jessie commanded another Poison Tail, then a Wrap. Immediately after the snake Pokémon's tail curled around Politoed, Politoed and Seviper was knocked unconscious. Jessie, needless to say, was shocked.

"Bu—bu—_how_?" Misty smirked.

"What's wrong, Jessie? Didn't you know what Perish Song _does_?" Misty took Jessie's poker face as a 'no.' "Perish Song causes all Pokémon in a battle to be knocked out three turns after the song is sung." Jessie growled in the pit of her throat and returned her Pokémon. She whispered into her headphones to Meowth. "The secret weapon—_NOW!_"

"But–" Jessie was quickly annoyed by her team member's hesitation, and thoughts of keeping quiet flew out of her mind.

"—I don't _care_ why you don't want to! Just _do it!_"

Meowth shrugged. "Okay...if ya say so, Jessie." A beep was heard, and Jessie stood strong, confident that this would work.

"Now, twerpette: Prepare to experience a humiliation like no other, as I reveal an e-mail message Team Rocket received earlier today, in triplicate." Behind her, a large screen rolled down. Upon it appeared a picture of Jessie sunbathing.

Misty sweatdropped and asked, "You got an e-mail of yourself?" Jessie turned around, saw the picture, and yelled into her microphone, "_That_ isn't the photo I meant!" Meowth laughed nervously, rubbing the back of its head.

"Sorry. I always mess up when I do pictures." A different beep was heard, and Jessie looked at the screen momentarily before boldly stating, "_Now_ look upon the e-mail of humiliation!" On the screen was a picture of Ash sitting next to Misty on a bed, and stroking her cheek with a finger. A short message was underneath it, and it was signed—

"Wallace." Misty muttered, her face turning red with embarrassment and anger. But mostly anger. Then, two shouts echoed through the building.

"_I'm going to_ kill _Wallace!_"

**---**

Wallace winced. "More. Definitely more." He picked up his phone and speed-dialed the people he needed to talk to. "Hello…is this Chancy Life and Injury Insurance?"

**---**

Brock paused. Since he was in the middle of a battle with James of Team Rocket, it was _not_ a very good time to pause. But he didn't care. He ran past James, pushing him side in a very rude way, unlike his usual behavior. He had just heard Ash and Misty calling out. He had _always_ been responsible for them. And they were in trouble. He had to help. Forretress floated after its master.

Max was confused. Togepi had finished off the net-throwers with a Metronome. The other bushes had been revealed to be lasers, which Forretress had taken out with an Explosion. James had come out of the cabin after the attack, and had challenged Brock to a one-on-one battle, Forretress versus a Cacnea weak from battle. Then he had heard a shout from inside the cabin, at which time Brock had run into the little wooden house. Right now, James was speaking angrily into a microphone, and May was poking him.

"Come on, Max. We should follow Brock. He might need our help." Max nodded, and they raced inside...

...only to run smack into Brock. They looked around and soon saw why. They were standing in front of an elevator door, which took up the whole room. Right now, the arrow pointing up was lit, and the floor lit up was 4. Max looked at the number on the door. 20. He sighed. _This_ could take awhile.

**---**

James, outside, was speaking to his feline companion. "They're at the elevator, Meowth! You have to do something, or they'll go help the twerpette!"

"I already _told_ youse, I _can't_! I only control the projector, screen, and outer defenses—"

"—which didn't work very well, let me tell you!" James shouted angrily. "What'll we do?"

"What's a Meowth ta do? I'm not purr-fect, ya, know." Meowth sighed. "We just pretend we know notin'

about dis, Jimmy boy. Then Jessie can find somethin' else to blame when this whole project goes south."

**---**

Well, Pikachu was puzzled. The way things had been sounding, Pikachupi wasn't doing very well against Pipikachu. She might need Pikachu's help. The electric Pokémon looked around its room. No one seemed to be watching, so it performed an Iron Tail. The glass container wasn't sturdy enough to hold together after all the electric attacks combined with the new pressure of the Iron Tail, and it shattered, setting Pikachu free.

Pikachu looked around the room. It looked like there was no way out, but then how could Pipikachu have put it in? Pikachu leaned back against one wall. This situation was becoming very baffling. Suddenly, the wall behind Pikachu opened up, and the electric mouse fell on its back. Pikachu jumped up and cocked an ear. "Pikachupi, pi pika..." It whispered. Finally, it picked up the sound of a Staryu. "Pikachupi!" The yellow mouse shouted happily, scampering down the hall to Pikachupi.

**---**

Misty had chosen Staryu to battle Jessie's Chimecho, but she couldn't concentrate. _Wallace_—her friend, advisor, and teacher, _Wallace_—had taken a picture of her and Ash. He had known how important Ash was to her, and yet treated it like some big joke that Ash had been so close to her. She was in shock, and that left Staryu on its own in the battle. Which wasn't a good thing. For Chimecho, that is. When Staryu battled on its own, it knew no limits. It would battle long after it would normally have passed out, and knew of no rules. Staryu started off by camouflaging itself, then attacking with a Bubblebeam. An electric shock jumped off the water's surface and struck Staryu down. Moments later, it was up and shooting golden stars from its mouth. Chimecho instinctively responded with a Safeguard, which did nothing to prevent it's being hit. Jessie watched perplexed, as Chimecho seemed to battle an invisible opponent.

"Where is it?" Jessie angrily wondered aloud. Staryu might as well have been in its Pokéball, as Jessie couldn't see it any better at the moment. "Oh, well. Chimecho, use Psywave!" The blue beam of light that shot out of Chimecho's mouth spread around the field. Staryu ended the Camouflage and switched to using a Light Screen. Most of the Psywave was deflected, but it had been very powerful. Even one fifth of the power was enough to leave Staryu dazed. Chimecho used a Psychic on the water type, and Staryu avoided it by sheer luck. Still dazed, Staryu couldn't evade the Yawn the wind chime Pokémon aimed at it. The starfish Pokémon was fortunately able to reflect the attack back at Chimecho thanks to it's jewel, and the reflection made a direct hit. Both Pokémon were exhausted, and Staryu couldn't help but feel pain. The electric current from all the non-water attacks Staryu had used were finally causing an effect. Misty snapped out of her daze as soon as she realized her Pokémon was in pain.

"Staryu! Quick, use Recover!" Although Staryu's hit points were brought back to normal, Staryu and Chimecho fell asleep. Misty and Jessie returned them, as Misty thought on the hopeless situation she was in. Her Pokémon were going to be taken from her because she had been too concerned with her love life and the friends she could trust to care about their well being. Staryu had been her last hope; Goldeen only had two water attacks, and it couldn't move out of the water to avoid the electric current. Horsea was too weak to survive a Thunder _Spark_ most days, and had never been a good battler, no offense to it. Starmie had been acting strange lately, and Misty didn't want to complicate matters anymore by having it battle. And Psyduck, was...well...Psyduck.

She pulled out a Pokéball and began to throw it, when suddenly, the double doors burst open. Misty broke into a wide grin and shouted to the newcomer happily, while Jessie frowned and shouted angrily.

"It's _you_!"

**---**

RoseRosa: I'm glad you liked it so much. Hilarious? I never really thought of that moment as hilarious, but if you say so…

That's slightly insulting, but true most of the time. Their plans would work if they had enough money to get good ropes and nets…and stopped using balloons; they blow up too easily.

Ri2: Hmm…define 'soon.' I suppose my OC for the sequels is almost like that…and there's the PPT team of Pokémon 'shippers who don't necessarily "hate" those three, but they do put them in humiliating situations. I know for sure Wallace is shouted at once or twice after this one ends.

That's true, though he keeps trying. His insurance agency might consider Misty insurance. I know of a few people who would be interested in buying some of that. -smirks-

I don't suppose she'll be thrilled…and she doesn't really have a choice. She's too kind-hearted to keep something when there's proof right in front of her face. I really have to delve into her character more this time around, as I made her much too flat the first time. Of course, now I know a bit more about May, it's much easier.

You don't say? Well, that should be an interesting chapter, no?

Soft Flame Matthias: Yay, a new reviewer!

Double yay! You're one of those people who reviews every chapter, even if it's at chapter 6 when you start reading. I gots lots of reviews from you! -all smiles-

I'll go most recent review to the earliest, though it's hardly logical…

Chapter 6: I hurried…a little bit. -sweatdrops- Yeah…well, it's posted now, isn't it? 'Fraid there aren't any others to blast TR out of the sky…though Elvis would be pretty funny…-ponders- Well, Luvdisc for all his love songs, I suppose…Jigglypuff/Igglybuff/Wigglytuff, though more of the Jiggly than the others. Loudred? -shrugs- Meh, I should've added more characters to blast them off, but 'tis too late. At least, too late in _this_ story…-ponders more- Honored? You sound like me…the honor is mine, really. I took a look at your bio page when you first reviewed, and the moment I get some time, I'll take a looksie at the stories you've got.

Chapter 5: No problem; study halls end fast like that at times. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Chapter 4: -bows to 'thunderous applause'- You're too kind, really. I don't think I see all that many of your kind nowadays…is that a good thing?

Chapter 3: Thank you. I'm glad you like the pace, though I feel disappointed with it myself; far too short a story, and with very few subplots, not to mention the shortness of the chapters. Nowadays, my chapters go below 10 pages and I'm disappointed. Back when I first wrote this, 6 or 7 was a large amount. And it's been less than a year since I wrote this. -sighs- Odd how much one can change that fast when you write a lot and read even more. You think my grammar is good? Well, I did edit the chapter about…3 times. First chapter was five times…Pikachu is a bit shock-happy, no? Well, shock-happy worked for Pikachu this time. In the sequel it goes all plotting and evil in a cute kind of way. -smiles- Will do!

Thanks once more for all the reviewing! I really appreciate it!

faithstar: Wow! Thanks for the enthusiasm. I try to update as often as I can, but lately…anyway, thanks for reviewing!

WeirdDutchGuy: The name says it all, no? Well, this was the longest review this chapter, so there's a lot to respond to. Shall we get it started?

Thanks a lot, but it's not all that great. I thought the attacking of Team Rocket was slightly ingenious on my part when I first wrote it…now, it's a bit corny. -smirks- Well, some of the mystery behind that list will be explained…though I haven't written the explanation yet! -sticks out tongue at self-

Thanks…though the ending I've planned is almost bittersweet. Mainly because I can't write the aftermath of the confession (which must, of course _always_ come before the getting together). As I said once before to another reviewer somewhere else: I hate to copy other people's ideas. I don't write new trainer stories, I refuse to write fluff argument fics (though I did once, to my own embarrassment), and I refuse to do ideas the rest of the world has done more than ten times. Yes, he certainly does, doesn't he? Team Rocket sort of tries, but only to embarrass and humiliate the duo.

Of course, I have some answers:

Misty was just walking outside. You know, a breath of fresh air to clear the mind of upsetting thoughts and memories. Togepi leaving hurt much more than Misty revealed, though you wouldn't know it at first sight, would you?

It wasn't all that fast, really. There was a time lapse in there that I didn't mention, and the hiding place wasn't really that far away (still on the island Sootopolis is found on, actually). With it being an island, and Misty traveling by air on her Gyarados, it's pretty easy to search for a something, especially when you have a general idea of what you're looking for.

You really want the answer to that? Well…yes and no. Like I said above, the ending for the trilogy is bittersweet. I won't reveal more so early on, so give me an e-mail if you want to know more.

That's something to happen in a chapter or three's time, so I wouldn't say it. However, May is too kind hearted to keep something that doesn't belong to her, once another person has proof it isn't hers.

I think you answered that yourself, mate.

Now.

wolf-girl87: Sort of wondered when you'd review. Well, I'm glad you liked it, and hope you like this one too.

**---**

This is an announcement for all readers, reviewers and otherwise!

Because of a combination of upcoming tasks (Silver Award work Girl Scouts, essays for finals, finals themselves, extra review h/w in preparation for finals, college classes, etc.) **I will have to take a break from updating tFA for a time.**

Hopefully, I will be able to update again within the next few months. June, August at latest.

Ja, mata!

**EDIT:** -sweatdrops- Oops! In my hurry to post this, it seems I have forgotten to put in scene dividers in some spots. -sweatdrops more- I have reposted now, and this replacement should have all the necessary dividers. Sorry for any confusion I might have caused.


	8. Psychic Idiots, Mistyrious Changes

**The First Awakening**

Chapter Eight

**---**

"It's _you_!" The battling red heads cried out, looking towards the double doors that had just been opened. Standing triumphantly in the doorway was a young man with spiky brown hair and a tan complexion. He posed for a moment, thinking to himself. He thoughts included, _Nurse Joy, if you could see me now._ He imagined a Nurse Joy—no, a hundred Nurse Joys—rushing through the halls to see him: Brock, the great savior of women. He would travel all distances, go through all means of torture and pain, so long as he could save the girl. Or Ash. Friends made a close second, behind girls, after all.

So thought Brock, self-proclaimed "savior of women."

So thought Brock the Mighty.

So thought Brock, in his last moments before being knocked over by a girl about 11 years old and a younger black haired boy.

"Where's Ash?" The boy wondered looking around frantically. He looked up and noticed one of the females. He lifted a hand and pointed accusatorily at the taller woman. "Team Rocket!" The boy shouted.

The girl sighed.

"No kidding, Max. We find a letter telling the reader to come here, written by Team Rocket, and it's such a _big_ surprise that Team Rocket's here." She shook her head, as did Misty and Jessie. "Sometimes I wonder, Max...you seem to be turning into such an—" The brunette was cut off.

"—Ash." Misty said wistfully.

"—twerp." Jessie said at the same time, nauseated. Hearing each other speak at the same time snapped the girls out of their break in proceedings. They immediately went back to glaring furiously at each other.

"Hey, Misty!" Brock called out from the background, hurt at being so quickly forgotten. "How's it been?"

Misty looked over at her longtime friend, obviously thinking to herself, "is he serious?" The ex-Cerulean Gym Leader glared at Brock. He sweatdropped.

"Sorry, standard question. Besides all this, you've been alright?" Misty shrugged.

"What can I say? I've been working with Wallace, and it's been fun traveling around. But then this morning…" Misty's eyes widened and she faltered. Puzzled by Misty's sudden pause, Brock looked around, wondering what his friend was looking at. Brock groaned, putting his face in his hands.

"Not this again..."

Jessie followed Misty's gaze. Noticing what she was looking at, her eyes widened and she shouted into her headphones. "Meowth! James! Do you see what I see?"

The Team Rocket members, now both in the control room, looked at the screens. James squeaked. "I think so, but..."

Meowth finished for him. "...how could _she_ have it? Isn't dat de twerpette's..."

"It couldn't be..." Misty muttered.

Four voices spoke in soft tones at once, questioning what was before their very eyes.

"...Togepi?"

---

Pikachu gasped. It could have sworn it just heard a bunch of people say "Togepi." And then, the electric type could have sworn it heard a familiar Togepi's voice. But, Pikachupi hadn't had Pipipi when Pikachu had visited today. Then who...?

Running quickly down the hall, Pikachu missed seeing a window. It scurried back and noticed a small ledge in front of the window. If it could just…Pikachu jumped up and clawed at the wall beneath the window until it got a good grip on it. The Mouse Pokémon could now see clearly, and what it saw shocked it sufficiently, making it so Pikachu didn't utter another word for a great portion of the remaining time.

**---**

"Th - tha - that's impossible..." Misty finally spat out. May furrowed her brows, and took on a stormy appearance.

"No, it's not. I found this Togepi in the woods, and battled it. I caught it in a Pokéball, and it just doesn't like going inside, like Ash's Pikachu. It's perfectly possible. Why doesn't _anyone_ get that?" Brock and Max sweatdropped and slowly stepped away from May, who was still crackling with anger at the fact that no one believed she was able to catch her own Pokémon. She hugged Togepi tighter, and the Spike Ball Pokémon looked up, wondering what was wrong with this nice lady who had found Mommy, just as Togepi had hoped.

Max's eyes wandered around the room as he avoided his sister's deadly gaze. He caught sight of a projector with its light shining brightly at the wall behind him. Max slowly turned around, wondering what Team Rocket or whoever had owned this place before would bother to put on a wall. Upon noticing the projection, Max's eyes widened; this was caused by his immediate recognition of the people in said projection. He pulled on Brock's vest, unsure if he had gone insane, or the picture was for real.

"Brock," he whispered. "What is _that_?" When Brock looked down at Max, confused, the Pokémon enthusiast pointed upward, and Brock's eyes moved in the direction Max pointed. His own eyes widened, and he chuckled.

"Yeah, Misty," he called out. "What _is_ that?" Misty looked at what he was pointing at and blushed; whether it was from embarrassment or from anger was unsure. "That's what I thought it was," Brock said, muffling his laughter. The Pokémon Breeder glanced up at Jessie. "I assume Wallace send you a copy too?"

Misty blushed deeper; this time, it was most definitely anger. "He sent _you _one?" She growled to herself and clenched her fists tighter. "He is _dead_," she promised in a low voice.

Far off, in another part of the building, a Pokémon trainer's face grew incredibly warm as he noticed Misty's reaction. _'What is wrong with me?'_ Ash wondered. _'Why am I acting so strangely? Why is_ Misty _acting strange too? What's going on...?' _The boy simply could not understand how he was so embarrassed now, though he had been perfectly calm when the action now captured on film happened.

Brock continued to question, ridicule, and tease Misty about the moment until she muttered something about a reminder from the past. Max, pretty sure he had had enough of Brock's teasing a new friend for one day, yanked Brock down to his own level by his ear in an attempt to shut him up. Misty smiled at her unknown protégé, then glared at Brock, who was now silent.

Jessie, who had been growing steadily more annoyed with the conversation interrupting her battle, coughed loudly, which effectively snapped Misty out of her anger. She sweatdropped, embarrassed, and brought out a Pokéball.

"Let's finish this, _Jessie_. Go—" A white surge of energy popped out of Misty's red backpack as she enlarged the Pokéball of her choice. She gasped and quickly reduced the size of the Pokéball in her hand. Joined by Brock and Pikachu, Misty slapped a hand to her heads and sweatdropped heavily as the energy began to take its form on a float as yellow as the Pokémon species it was revealed to be. The Duck Pokémon cocked its head to one side and supported its head with both hands, standing in a familiar pose as it cried out a familiar name.

"Psy...duck."

Jessie burst out laughing. The twerpette's second to last Pokémon was her stupid duck? "_This_ will be too easy!" The Team Rocket member guffawed. "You have such poorly trained Pokémon that they come out when you don't want to call them out." May looked more sympathetically towards Misty, remembering how annoying Skitty was when it escaped from time to time. She glared at Jessie, who wasn't even paying attention to anyone, too busy acting holier-than-thou towards Misty. "Well," she continued, "mine are _much_ different. Jessie calls on—"

"—Wobbu wobbu!" A blue blobby Pokémon popped out of nowhere and saluted its trainer as Jessie facefaulted. Misty, May, Max, and Brock burst out laughing, Misty and May more wickedly than the others perhaps because Jessie had just had her own speech thrown back in her face. Pikachu was rolling on its back out in the hallway. Jessie could even hear Meowth and James stifling giggles over their microphones. Unable to shout at the people around her without looking ridiculous, Jessie took her misplaced anger out on her psychic Pokémon.

"That was possibly the worst timing you've ever had in your entire miserable little life, Wobbuffet!" The Patient Pokémon looked bemusedly at Jessie, unaware of the embarrassment it had caused her. Brock walked to the midway of the field and transformed into his battle referee mode, calling out for all to here, "This round is Psyduck vs. Wobbuffet. Let the match begin!"

Misty was determined that Psyduck would not fail her. Whenever it came out during a battle before, it always found a way to save her skin. "Let's go, Psyduck!" Psyduck jumped boldly into the air, ready to battle...

...at least, until it started flailing in the water. Misty sighed, muttering, "And to think I'm relying on _Psyduck_..." Eventually, Psyduck got back up, and stood once more in a fighting stance.

Jessie waited; Wobbuffet could only counter attacks, not create its own.

Brock waited.

Max waited.

May waited.

Pikachu waited.

Ash waited.

James waited.

Meowth waited.

Togepi trilled happily.

Misty waited, forgetting to command her Pokémon.

All of them waited...

And Psyduck slowly turned around and cocked its head, its wings holding its head in the familiar position. "Psy...duck?" Everyone fell on their faces except Togepi, Psyduck, and Wobbuffet; Misty, Jessie, James, Meowth, Brock and Ash muttered, "Oh, Psyduck..." Misty got up quickly, recovering from her moment of inactive battle-watching.

"Use Scratch!" Psyduck leapt over the water and quickly moved its wings in front of Wobbuffet.

"Counter!" Wobbuffet glowed blue and Psyduck was scratched right across its face. It seemed to be in great pain, which gave Misty an idea.

"Keep using scratch Psyduck! We have to save Ash, and all his Pokémon!" The yellow Pokémon nodded, determined to save Ash and itself from being taken by Team Rocket. Jessie was slightly taken aback, but didn't mind the girl letting her take the easy way…to defeat, that is.

"If you want to lose your boyfriend and your Pokémon, twerpette, it's no skin off my nose." Jessie half-scoffed. She turned her attention back to the battle. "Keep using Counter, Wobbuffet!"

As Psyduck continued to be hit with its own attack as well as electrocuted because said attacks weren't water type attacks, Brock smiled. He recognized this strategy, and he supposed Ash would too, if he could see the battle wherever he was. Max looked up at Misty confusedly. Why was she so confident when her Pokémon kept getting injured over and over again. Pikachu, out in the hall, hoped desperately that Misty's strategy would not fail, and that Psyduck would do what was required of it before the pain grew too much.

The electric type needn't have worried; Jessie's smirk of victory turned to a frown of worry soon enough. Misty wore the smirk as Psyduck began to glow blue. "Now, Psyduck," she cried out triumphantly, "use Disable!" Wobbuffet glowed an unearthly blue as it was lifted into the air. Jessie panicked. _This_ was an upset she most definitely hadn't seen coming. How could she have forgotten what this dumb Pokémon could do?

"It's been too long since we've seen the twerpette battle, hasn't it?" she muttered quietly, half-aware Meowth and James could hear her clearly through her microphone. "I forgot all about the powers of that duck of hers."

Meowth shook its head from side to side, claiming "Meowth didn't." Jessie started to grow red; partly because she was angry Meowth hadn't reminded her, and partly because she was the competent member of their team; shouldn't _she_ have been the one to remember the truth while the others forgot?

Deciding to add his two cents to the conversation, James said, "I didn't either, Jessie. It's quite difficult for me to forget how it feels to be lifted by nothingness into the air, or being tossed into oblivion by that duck's—"

Jessie stopped short of shouting at the two, suddenly reminded of what it had felt like for _her_ when that duck went all out, and that such force was still standing right in front of her. Since the battle had not yet ended, Misty had taken some opportune time whilst Jessie was arguing to take full control of the battle. The twerpette had tossed Wobbuffet to the ground, and Psyduck eyes were still glowing blue, showing to the world that it was completely able to perform one of the twerp-group's most infamous attacks on Team Rocket not counting Pikachu's many painful electric attacks —

"—Psychic!" Psyduck's eyes glowed brighter than usual for a moment, and betwixt its outstretched wings, a bright, multicolored beam of light appeared. Psyduck charged up the energy a moment longer then pushed its wings forwards, letting the concentrated energy flow outward and straight for Wobbuffet. Jessie watched, speechless, as her Pokémon was hit, not thinking to attempt to avoid or block the attack. It was rather hopeless; Counter and Mirror Coat only protected to a limit, and it was obvious to all who could see it that this specific attack was far too powerful to be blocked.

Nevertheless, Wobbuffet held out its arms and cried out its name in the moments before being engulfed in the wave of energy.

"No!" The female Team Rocket member watched her Pokémon go down—and come up, only partially damaged. Then she remembered; her side of the field was protected from attacks that were powerful enough to knock out a Pokémon in one single attack. And who knew? Perhaps Wobbuffet had instinctively performed Mirror Coat, lessening the damage even further. The twerpette had apparently only just remembered the shield-like qualities of Jessie's side of the battle field as well, based on the expression on her face.

"It still did some damage, Psyduck, so…use Psychic again!" This time, Jessie was ready. Instinct or no, Wobbuffet could use a bit of ordering around for now.

"Oh no you don't! Mirror Coat, Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet shimmered white and the powerful attack at least, what remained of it after being filtered through Jessie's side was sent back at Psyduck. At twice the power, almost no Pokémon could stand up to the attack. Misty quickly ran through her possibilities. There were few, so she came to a conclusion quickly enough, the speed of which was possibly one of her more endearing qualities as a trainer and gym leader.

"Um…use Disable to lift yourself into the air, Psyduck. Escape the Psychic! Hurry!" Psyduck concentrated, and was soon afloat in the air, glowing blue. The duck Pokémon collapsed onto the ground quickly, managing to avoid all but the last bit of the attack. The blue light vanished from its eyes, and Psyduck was its normal, confused self once more. Misty and Jessie watched as their Pokémon, both exhausted, stood up shakily. Misty knew Psyduck didn't have the strength for another attack…all it was good for now was raising a panic, but that would mean…

Not caring about the risks, Misty decided to take matters into her own hands, and force Psyduck into a frenzy. Even if the only way was quite possibly the most desperate technique she had ever used. But hey, can't a girl be a bit desperate when trying to save her best friend from possibly mortal peril?

"Psyduck! Cannonball!" Psyduck looked back at Misty, obviously unwilling. Seeing she wouldn't give up on forcing the attack, Psyduck sighed and jumped into the air with its last bit of energy. It landed with a nice, resounding splash in the pool space right at the edge of the water section of the field. Brock wondered what Misty was thinking; she and he both knew Psyduck couldn't swim, and its abhorrence of the water was made evident when Psyduck began to thrash about and cry out the moment it resurfaced.

The splash, combined with Psyduck's flailing, soaked everything and everyone in the vicinity: Misty, Brock, Max, May, Togepi, Jessie, and Wobbuffet, as well as the entire field and a good portion of the floor surrounding it. Because the maneuver technically wasn't an attack at all, the electric shock, triggered by its programming, traveled along the path of least resistance. In other words: through the water. To summarize a quite gruesome scene and some inhuman language, every human and Pokémon in the room was badly charred by the electricity. When they could see straight again, Psyduck was out cold. Wobbuffet was swaying dangerously, but was still conscious.

Brock coughed up some soot, then sadly announced, "The round is over. The winner is Wobbuffet." He looked up at Misty, wondering what she could possibly pull out of her sleeve this time. "Choose your next Pokémon, Misty."

---

Ash couldn't believe it, though he had only just finished seeing it. Whenever Psyduck came out during an important match, it had always came through. It always defeated its opponent, whether that opponent was Team Rocket, or a Bike Gang, or even Ash himself. And yet there it was, lying unconscious on the ground. It seemed like there was no hope left, unless...Ash's head snapped up. He had an idea. A crazy idea, but an idea nonetheless. He squeezed his eyes shut. Who was he kidding? Misty was down there, and he was locked up tight. There was no way to tell her, and he would never have the chance to tell her the idea if she lost. Everything seemed...so...hopeless...

**---**

Misty's eyes closed and pressed together tightly. "I can't, Brock." Brock, thinking Misty must've been affected by the psychic energies, began talking slower and reminding Misty of the steps of choosing a Pokémon for battle.

"Sure ya can, Misty. Just choose your last Pokémon. It's very eas—"

"—I'm not a child, Brock! And it's not that simple!" Misty's eyes were open once again as she glared angrily over at him. The Pokémon Breeder held back a gasp; Misty's eyes were shining—with tears. "There's too much at stake! If I lose this, I lose _everything_!" Brock jumped back a step.

"What do you mean, everything?"

"They might as well take you too, Brock. If I lose, I lose—" She choked, unable to get it out.

"—she loses her twerp boyfriend, her Pokémon, and her twerp boyfriend's Pikachu." Jessie shouted triumphantly. "She has too much at risk here. So I'll make a deal, twerpette. You give up now, and I'll let you keep your Pokémon. We don't need weak Pokémon like yours in Team Rocket, anyway." Brock, Max, and May looked over at Misty for conformation. After muttering something about Ash, she nodded sadly. "Well, twerpette? What'll it be?"

"Isn't it obvious, Jessie? I have no choice..." Blocking out the desperate pleas of Brock, Max, and May, Misty squeezed her eyes shut. _'I need an idea,'_ she thought desperately. _'Ash, if there was ever a time I needed one of your crazy strategies, now would be it.'_ She sighed. Who was she kidding? Ash was locked up tight, and there was no way to find him. And yet, if she didn't find him, he would be taken from her. Everything seemed so...so hopeless...

Suddenly, Misty's eyes shot open, and they started glowing with a golden amber tone. Jessie, Brock, Max, and May backed away from her, shocked at what they were seeing. Pikachu, out in the hallway, shocked the door and burst in. Pikachupi needed its help, and Pikachu would do whatever it could. Meowth and James, up in the monitor room, jumped away from the screens. They could barely see a thing, so bright were Misty's eyes. Ash would have squinted to see better if his eyes hadn't been shining with an aqua blue light themselves.

Max gave a little shout of surprise as Pikachu brushed past his legs. Misty had turned to it, her eyes still radiating a brown color, and smiled a sort of crooked half-smile at Pikachu. About to jump up to Misty, it paused. Pikachu knew that smile, but not on Pikachupi's face. "It's alright, Pikachu." Misty said, but not in her normal voice. It seemed—deeper, somehow. Pikachu murmured something inaudible as Misty turned to face May, who recoiled slightly before Misty's sight. "May," she said, "I need Togepi." May was surprised to say the least. And she wasn't alone.

"What?" Brock shouted. "Misty, you're going to rely on _Togepi_ to save your Pokémon, Ash, and Pikachu?"

"Umm...Brock? Pikachu's right here. It doesn't _need_ saving." Max said calmly, tugging gently on Brock's vest. Brock sweatdropped, but Jessie cried out in his place.

"You can't use a Pokémon that isn't even _yours_, twerpette!" She cringed as Misty turned to her, eyes glowing bright and brown. "My name is _not_ 'twerpette.' And Togepi _is_ mine. I still have its registration papers." Misty reached into her backpack and pulled out a few sheets of paper. She tossed them over to Jessie, who looked at them worriedly. She was confirmed of their authenticity quickly.

"Dey're de real deal, Jess. Dey say dat Togepi's hers 'til six months from now." Jessie tossed them down angrily. "Fine," she yelled, frustrated. "Fine! Use the stupid egg if you want to! See if it makes a difference!"

Misty turned back to May. "Well, May," she said, "it's all up to you...will you let me have the chance to win, and save Ash and my Pokémon? Or will you keep your illegally gotten Pokémon, forcing me to lose?"

Max straightened his glasses. "Gee, Misty. When you put it like that, there really isn't much choice." Misty slowly turned to him, as she had the others, the brown tone slightly overcome by a tinge of blue green before speaking. "And yet that's how it is..." She turned back to May. "Well, May?"

May lifted Togepi up in her arms and looked at it. It was trilling, happy as always. Then she turned it to Misty. Immediately, Togepi's face turned as serious as May had ever seen it. It held out it little arms and stretched out, trying to reach its Mommy. May frowned. Ever since she had found out that Togepi had once belonged to a friend of Ash and Brock, she had been afraid of this. Even though she had attempted to disbelieve it, no matter how impossible she made it seem, there was no way to deny Togepi would want to go back to its surrogate mother. And now, it was time to choose. May smiled sadly at her newest Pokémon, realizing that her own wants were far less important than the needs of her friends. Deciding, she gently placed it down on the ground.

"Well, Togepi," she began, "I only just got to know you today when I caught you, and now it seems like I have to let you go already. Ash and Brock told me what it was like to let your Pokémon leave, but," she sniffed, tears starting to slowly trickle down her cheeks, then continued, "I had no idea it would be this bad...anyway, go where you need to be, Togepi." She stood up and left Togepi standing quietly on the ground. May backed up behind Max and Brock.

Togepi looked up at where May had been. Now she was crouching on the ground, shaking slightly and being consoled by Pikachu, who knew what it was like to lose a Pokémon near to your heart. Even though May knew what she had done was right, it still hurt to let go of Togepi so soon. Then it looked over at Misty, her eyes a steadily intense russet glow. Togepi thought for a long moment, then, to everyone's shock, lifted itself into the air. May, having calmed sufficiently, pulled out her Pokédex, which announced monotonously that Togepi was using Confusion, though the Pokédex was confused as to how. Misty didn't seemed surprised, and Togepi landed on the leaf green float to the side of the pool closest to the exit.

"Now then," Misty said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Let's get this thing started."

---

**Review response time!**

**wolf-girl87**: Yay, you reviewed! And no fake flaming, either. -smiles- Well, I'm glad you're better, and sorry for the confusion; I went back and added in the dividers when I realized I had forgotten some. -sweatdrops- Totally my bad.

**RoseRosa**: I suppose you know who "you" is now, no? Well, with finals over and most of the work for my Silver Award done, I felt I had some time on my hands to post another chapter.

**WeirdDutchGuy**: I try to answer as many questions as possible. Thanks. -smiles- I like long reviews myself, unless I'm reviewing at two in the morning. Then I just tell the author the chapter was good and to update soon. But that's just me.

Ah…not very safe to be working with electronics during a storm, though, is it? I think that storm of yours is either coming in soon or just got through; we've got a weekend of storms ahead, and I'm not looking forward to it very much myself. I assume school didn't burn down (though I suppose it _could_ happen).

So…you can't _see _Misty losing, but you can see Team Rocket winning. -sweatdrops- Okay, then…Pikachu didn't escape earlier because it was tired from attempting to shock its way out. It only thought of using Iron Tail to escape when its energy had been restored. Pikachu, then Brock-maybe, and now Brock-for-sure? Well, I suppose you know if you're right or not know, no? -smirks- I love writing that line; I think "know, no" is just funny. But back to the review…

Ah, finals. I know for sure I got an A to A+ in Geography, which is good, and a very low A- in Comp. Apps and Math, but this was expected, so I'm alright with it. Now, I've got my hardest classes on the last day of testing; how fair is that? Thank you for attempting to empathize with me; any support is greatly appreciated.

-later- Turns out I got at least a 90 in every subject. I guess I'm lucky; that kept me in highest classes. Highest score was the one I studied hardest for; yay me, I guess.

PS. If you say so…how often do you get bored? ;P

**Ri2**: Wow. I mean, wow. I know I shouldn't review your story in a review response, but that was really good. And it also explained a criticism a reader had on SPPf; I had no idea the gym was on a different island from the town, or that it was inside a mountain/volcano-thing…

I imagine I'll alter the story to fix that, once I'm done posting all of it.

You did? I just sort of got the idea from 'Battle for the Badge,' where they gave no explanation as to how they rigged the gym so Ash would get shocked…I just kind of went with the idea, but for the field instead of the stand. And since it's electric, it could be conducted through the water being rained by Gyarados, actually turning against Jessie (once again, similar to BftB). There wasn't really much of a boost for Team Rocket, just a really big decrease for Misty. You know, with the anti-one-move-knockout-shield and the electric junk.

Bittersweet as in…well, I should reveal it, but if you really want to know, send me an e-mail. It'll totally ruin the reading experience for you (IMO), but if you want to know, I'll tell you. Just know that no one dies. It's just sad, sort of. For a character I introduce in PotS, and for Ash and Misty's relationship. Of course, it's sort of a good thing…and sort of sweet at the epilogue, which I'm gonna make just for the heck of it to sum everything up and have Misty's promise from the Togetic episodes, though they never occurred in this story, come true.

And that's all I'll say unless you request more information.

They had a general idea of what they were looking for, Brock knowing where Team Rocket usually hides out. And it wasn't all that fast; I didn't bother to write out about half of the battle with dialogue, so it appeared to be shorter than it actually was.

IMO, yours was much nicer. Mine is very quirky, though there actually is significance behind some of the odd actions no one has seemed to notice. Yours is an all-around nice guy, who gives boyfriends swells of egos and girlfriends blushing compliments. I really liked one of the comments he made when someone (I forget who) said he looked nice even after being in a closet for three days. It was like "yes, it's one of the reasons why the fan girls love me," and I thought it was the funniest thing ever.

You are kidding me, right? May is fantastic in your story! I'm trying to make her better in my own, but the way you portrayed her…-sighs- that was a fantastic chapter…I hope you know which one I meant.

I read them, and as I reviewed, I really enjoyed that twist.

**---**

**Peoples, read Ri2's story! "Latias' Journey" is very good!**

**So says the author, who has decided to tell readers to read certain stories each chapter from now on because she is quirky like that!**

**---**

**Ja!**


	9. Battle's Finish, Noodles Buying?

**The First Awakening**

Chapter 9

**---**

Togepi stood on the emerald float and glanced upward uncertainly. It trilled softly, peering at its foster mother. She _looked_ like herself, except for the coffee-toned eyes of course, but she seemed...different...somehow. It looked at her quizzically. Misty, understanding, jumped down to the orange float next to Togepi's.

"You must understand, Togepi," she said encouragingly, holding Togepi's little arms in her hands. "The fate of Ash, Pikachu, and Misty's Pokémon rests in your capable hands. _Misty_ believes in you, _Ash_ believes in you, _Pikachu_ believes in you, _I_ believe in you, but none of that will matter unless _you_ believe in you. Believe in yourself, and I know you can win." With that, she jumped back onto the platform.

Jessie smirked, her azure eyes narrowing slightly. "Well? You wanted to get this thing started, didn't you? Let's go."

Brock stepped back to the center of the room. "This is a Pokémon battle between Togepi and Wobbuffet. Let the match begin!"

Misty's eyebrows lowered, the coffee brilliance of her eyes hidden slightly. Jessie's eyes squinted to match Misty's, and she raised her arm. "Use—" she faltered, unable to call for an attack.

Misty took over where she left off. "Use Metronome!" Togepi began waving its stubby little arms back and forth, to Jessie's dismay.

"Wobbuffet! Counter!" Wobbuffet shimmered with a blue light similar to that of Togepi arms. A blast of blue-silver light shot out of the sky, rendering Wobbuffet's Counter useless. The Ice Beam quickly froze the blue blobby Pokémon. "No!" Jessie cried out.

Misty smiled. Her theory had been proven correct—if Jessie didn't know what attack to prepare for, Wobbuffet could still be critically hit. "Finish it off with another Metronome!" Togepi's arms swayed from side to side as Jessie watched in horror, her immobile Pokémon a sitting duck to the attack...her look of horror turned to one of delight as the attack turned out to be a Flamethrower, melting the ice away. Misty's face remained impartial as she commanded another Metronome. This time, Jessie instructed Wobbuffet to use Mirror Coat. It shined white-silver as a stream of flame swept towards it. The Heat Wave bounced off the Mirror Coat and back towards Togepi with twice the power.

"Quick, Togepi! Dive into the pool!" Misty cried, pointing at the water. Togepi jumped in just as the flames passed over its side of the field. When the fire had dissipated, Togepi jumped out of the pool, only slightly singed on its top spike. Misty smiled, once again proud of Togepi. "Metronome!" The waving came to an end quickly; the attack was a Hydro Pump, which only made Jessie worry more.

Panicked, she shouted out, hoping Wobbuffet would react fast enough to survive the attack. "Counter!" The attack was partially deflected by the battlefield's effects, and Wobbuffet successfully rebounded the rest of the attack towards Togepi.

Max adjusted his glasses so that the lights above reflected against the lenses; his eyes couldn't be seen behind them, and he seemed deep in thought. May gasped, worried for the Pokémon she had protected like a mother since she caught it; surely Togepi couldn't survive a Hydro Pump if it couldn't withstand Double Kick and Sand Attack! Brock remained straight-faced. These attack patterns looked familiar, and if he knew what he _thought_ he knew about the actual battler here, there would be a sudden turn-around quite soon.

He was right.

"Follow Me!" Togepi glowed with a silver-white tinge as it rebounded the Hydro Pump back against Wobbuffet. Jessie cried out shortly; she hadn't expected a copying attack, and Wobbuffet had no energy left to move, let alone counter the water attack headed towards it. Wobbuffet was blasted backwards; when the mist cleared, it was obvious who the victor was.

"Togepi is the winner!" Brock announced happily. May and Pikachu jumped, fists pumping the air and cheers echoing in their show of how proud they were of Misty and Togepi. "Choose your next Pokémon, Jessie."

Jessie scratched her head and frowned sharply; she couldn't think of a Pokémon she hadn't used yet. She was now almost worried, and she wasn't alone.

"What'll we do if Jessie actually _loses_, Meowth?" James asked from the control room, afraid. "We never planned for something like that."

Meowth rubbed its chin. "Meowth's run outta ideas, Jimmy boy."

A static-crackled voice echoed through their headphones. "Don't forget, the brains around here haven't run out of ideas. James, press the big red button above the highest screen."

Meowth paled (though it was hard to notice through its fur), then scratched James to stop him from pressing the button. It was too late, as the blue-haired Rocket agent pushed the button. Meowth felt a sinking feeling, both literally and physically. It looked down under its chair and sure enough, the floor had disappeared beneath it. As the Normal type fell down the tunnel, James was able to hear an accented wail:

"You said dat ting was only a precaution, Jessie! I can't battle dat Togepi!"

In the battle arena, Pikachu sat in May's arms, comfortable for the moment, if a bit confused. All Jessie had done was shout into her headphones, which didn't seem to make anything happen. The electric mouse suddenly noticed a door open in the ceiling. Its supersensitive ears picked up caterwauling echoing from within the chute shortly, and, soon enough, all watchers-on of the battle could tell what was coming. Momentarily, a pale cream-colored feline Pokémon landed with a plop in the middle of the ground area.

Brock attempted to conceal a chuckle and failed. "The final battle will be Togepi vs. Meowth. Let the battle begin!"

Meowth, though it had been forced into this battle, was determined to do as good as it possibly could (mainly to save its battered and bruised body from more "blasting off"). "I'll start off with my Scratch Attack!" The cat cried out, unsheathing its claws. Misty called for no attack; she knew what would happen. Meowth, about to strike, looked for a moment at Togepi. Its beady little eyes were watering up, and it appeared ready to burst into tears. Meowth stopped, and thought for a moment. This was that little egg it had taken such loving care of—the egg it had bathed with, sung to, slept with, and kept warm at night. And it was about to hurt that little egg? Meowth's face fell.

"I can't do it," the feline said sadly. "I just can't hoit that Togepi. I cared for it like a mother...and ya can't fight your own child!" May's eyes watered unconsciously; she hadn't known Meowth could be so sentimental. Usually it was yelling at them to hand over Pikachu or some other Pokémon. Misty remained impassive, wiping away a fake tear.

"How touching," she said coldly. "Togepi, use Sweet Kiss." Togepi jumped into the air and gave Meowth a big hug and kissed its cheek. Meowth had sweatdrops running down its back, similar to how Pikachu had reacted when it last faced Togepi. The cat Pokémon swayed, and almost fell over from the effects of the Sweet Kiss. Meowth shook off the kiss and got into a fighting position.

"Well, if Togepi can fight me, I guess I _can _fight back!" Meowth jumped into the air and ignored Togepi's saddened face. "I tink I'll try sometin' new: Faint Attack!" Misty could do nothing; Faint Attack always hit. Fortunately for Togepi, the attack wasn't very strong, as Meowth had only just perfected it.

Jessie was furious. "Use something that'll actually _work_, Meowth!" Meowth turned to her hand stuck out its tongue while pulling one of its lower eyelids down.

"I'll do what I want, Jessie! And I want to use Slash!" Meowth jumped into the air one again, releasing its claws.

Misty was ready this time. "Safeguard!" A blinding white light surrounded Togepi, and the sphere of protection was soon around everyone in the room but Meowth and Jessie. Brock heard Misty cry shortly, and he rushed over to the platform. As the Safeguard cleared up, he found Misty to be sitting on the ground, rubbing her head and groaning slightly. When she opened her eyes, they were their normal blue-green shade.

Brock asked, unsure who he was talking to, "Misty?"

She looked up at him, confused. "Yeah...who else would I be? And," she looked around her, obviously baffled, "what's going on?"

Now Brock was confused. "Don't you remember anything?"

"I remember thinking everything seemed hopeless, right after Psyduck lost to Wobbuffet...then everything went blank...it's so strange..." Misty summarized. Then she really began noticing what was around her, and she got mad. "Okay, which one of you numbskulls put Togepi into battle? You know I only let it battle against Pikachu and my own Pokémon; it's not strong enough to battle anyone, even _Team Rocket_!"

Upon hearing their team name used in such a derogative way, Jessie and Meowth stood tall, looked scorned, and acted as such. "What do you mean, 'even Team Rocket'?" Jessie shouted, flames coming out of her mouth.

"_We're_ of a class light-years above any little twoips like youse!" Meowth cried out, ignoring quickly stifled coughs coming from the crowd. It leapt into the air and unsheathed its claws, ready for a couple of Fury Swipes, when Togepi suddenly started glowing.

Everyone watching the battle gasped simultaneously and breathed a silent "Oh..." (Pikachu added a breathy "Pika..." for good measure.)

Soon enough, Togepi began to take a new shape—its shell disappeared, a neck grew, and small wings grew from its back. The white glow faded, and before the anxious, small crowd appeared a Togetic, flawless in its graceful beauty. May brought out her Pokédex, which droned the following commentary on the flying Pokémon: _Togetic—the happiness Pokémon. They say that it will appear before kindhearted, caring people and shower them with happiness. It can float in midair without moving its wings._

"Wow..." May said. Ash, Max, and Brock were equally amazed. Misty's eyes were watering with happiness and pride, as were Pikachu's. Jessie and Meowth were enraged. This was definitely _not _part of the plan.

Meowth ran through its options rather quickly. There wasn't much it could do right now; it was very weak, thanks to attacking the Safeguard moments ago. All it could do was: "Growl Attack! Gr..."

Everyone sweatdropped, and Misty muttered, "Well, we might as well battle..." She then cried out to her newly evolved Pokémon. "Use Encore, Togetic!" Togetic stuck out its arms and waved them around.

Meowth looked around anxiously. No explosions. No glowing. Nothing. Meowth smirked. "Let's try a Scratch now! Gr..." Meowth was confused as its scratch became a growl. Misty smiled.

Jessie growled to herself. Extremely ticked off, she shouted, "Encore makes you repeat your attacks, idiot!"

Meowth sweatdropped and rubbed the back of its head. "Heh heh heh...whaddya know..."

Togetic charged up a Metronome without Misty telling it; frankly, it was obvious how they should end this match. Meowth's eyes widened considerably as an electric current appeared from between Togetic's arms then shot out towards Meowth.

Brock chuckled. "How ironic, that Misty would defeat Team Rocket thanks to a Thunderbolt." May, Max, and Pikachu nodded simultaneously. Jessie and James winced as Meowth shook erratically because of the shock to its body. _They_ knew that pain all too well.

Meowth finally collapsed, the Thunderbolt having completed its job.

Brock lifted his arms in the air, barely containing his smile. "Meowth is unable to battle. Togetic wins the match!" Max, May, and Pikachu cheered and shouted their congratulations, while Brock just smiled proudly. Misty, however, ran onto the field, jumping from float to float until she reached Togetic, whom she wrapped in a large hug.

"I had no idea you could do it, Togetic, but you did," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so proud of you. You saved Ash, and Pikachu, and all of my Pokémon. Thank you so much." Then she straightened, wiping her tears away, and turned to look at Jessie. "Now, if you'll be so kind, hand over the keys to Ash's room."

Jessie, panicking, whispered into her headset. "James, what do we do? I don't _have_ the keys to the twerp's room!"

Jessie could picture James shrugging as he responded. "I don't even know where the room is, Jessie. Meowth's the one who locked the twerp in, and it's out cold at the moment." Jessie growled, grinding her teeth as she concentrated on finding an idea.

"Well?" Misty asked, Togetic floating near her shoulder. "Where's Ash's key?"

"Misty won fair and square!" Max shouted out, noticing Jessie's hesitation. "Now give her the key!"

"Yeah!" May added for good measure.

"That's right!" Brock said encouragingly.

Jessie sweatdropped. "Could you three be any _more_ annoyingly supportive?"

Misty looked down at Pikachu for a moment, then smiled. "If you want, Jessie, we can do this the old-fashioned way." Pikachu's cheeks began to spark, and Jessie backed away, her arms held out in front of her to form a feeble protection from the attack.

"No, that's fine, twerpette!" She said quickly. "It's just...there's no key!" Jessie straightened under Misty's glare, hoping Pikachu wouldn't be let lose on her.

Misty lightened her frown slightly. "Fine, then." Jessie breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly sucked it back in as Misty added, "Take us to him." The red head stared at her counterpart, then began to walk out of the room.

"This way," she called out in a singsong voice. Brock, Max, May, Pikachu, and Misty followed after her.

James began muttering in her ear. "Jessie, you don't know where the twerp's room is...do you?"

Jessie frowned in irritation. Sometimes she could just whack her partner over his head with a newspaper for being so dense. "No, I don't. I'm stalling so you can remove all traces of us from the building. The cops might find their way down here soon, and I dunno about you, but _I _don't want to go to jail. Did you remember to turn off the twerp's screen?"

James stuttered. "No...yes...um...was I supposed to? 'Cause if I was, then yes. If not, the screen is still on."

Jessie sighed, getting seriously annoyed. "Just turn it off. Now."

Jessie's tone was enough to quiet James. "Okay."

Jessie stopped in front of a door and opened it up. The room was full of instant noodles. "...James..." she asked into her headphone. "What is this?"

"...what...?"

"All the noodles?"

"What about them?"

"…gee, I don't know…maybe _how many of them there are_?" The mound of packages in all sorts of sizes and shapes (cups, square wrappers, shallow bowls, and more) might have amassed to the weight of a Charizard, at Jessie's guess. Considering how feather-light each package usually was…Jessie had reason to question the number.

"Well...there was a sale, and I—I was really hungry, Jessie!"

Jessie winced at the decibel levels of her teammates whining. A hand tapped her shoulder. When she turned around, the cooking twerp was right in her face.

"You'd better not be trying to fool us," Brock warned, narrowing his eyes. "We're not stupid; we know Ash isn't a bunch of instant noodle packages. Take us to his room already."

Jessie sweatdropped, and quickly found an excuse. "I was just...taking inventory on our food. You always have to make sure none of it is taken, right?"

Max peered past Jessie's side and his jaw dropped. "_That_ is the second largest amount of instant noodles I have seen in my entire life." Misty, Jessie, Pikachu, and Brock looked back at him, wondering briefly where he could have possibly seen more. May rubbed the back of her head and sweatdropped before pulling Max away from the others and talking to him sternly about "his promise to never talk about that time ever again."

Jessie closed the door and started walking down the hall again. Then she noticed how long the hall was. And how many doors there were. She sighed.

This was going to be one _long_ night.

**---**

Ash stared in front of him. Static. He glanced away a moment, then quickly looked back. Static. He did a triple-quadruple-double take at the screen. Static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, static, and he couldn't dream of not noticing the last one: static.

So, his mind began to wander. It did that a lot. Like when he was supposed to be doing things he didn't consider important, like watching the road for pitfalls, or reading a map...anyway, today the topic traveled around quite a bit before landing on one of Ash's least favorite topics: the Orange Islands.

Of course, not all of it was bad; the Orange League trophy he had won was nothing to dislike, and Snorlax was an awesome Pokémon...when it woke up, at least...and Tracey was a good friend, but there was just _something_ about the Orange Islands he had hated.

Namely, that it seemed like every single living breathing entity that every met Ash was convinced he and Misty were either (a) a couple, or (b) in love. It was ridiculous! He had been, what—12, 13 at most during his travels there, and people expected him to be in _love?_ Or _dating?_

Anyway, back to Ash's thoughts...

At the moment, they were naming every time someone in the Orange Islands had said something about Ash and Misty being together, and finding logical (to his mind, at least) ways such accusations were complete fabrications of said people's twisted imaginations.

_"That's just like you and Ash..." _

'Misty and I were right...Tracey was _crazy sometimes...'  
_

"_What's that saying—you hurt the ones you love?" Laughter._

'_Ah, what did _he_ know? He didn't think I could beat him either, but I proved _that_ wrong…"_

Suddenly, a voice came to Ash that, for some reason, he couldn't recall...well, one he didn't remember when he'd heard the words they spoke, anyway...but he knew the speaker immediately. Ash's hands curled into fists, and his teeth ground against each other as this scene ran through his head.

_"I know Marie would love it if you stayed...and our Pokémon could use your expertise training..._please _think about staying, Misty..." _

'Rudy! That no good, show-offy, Misty stealer, trying to make her stay on Trovita...' Ash fumed for a moment, ranting in his head. His body went slack for a moment as he registered what he had just thought. _Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Where did _that _come from—"Misty-stealer?"'_

Ash would've scratched his head, if he could reach. Then he mumbled to himself, trying to make sense of his thought. "It's not like I own her or anything...but when did Rudy say that? I don't remember..." Ash's head began to ache, and he stopped his muttering as voices he knew said things he hadn't known they'd ever said...

_"Love's not easy, huh, Misty...?" _

"That boy out there is my burden...and this is yours..."

"Why won't you go out with me? Do you like someone else...?"

"There is someone else, isn't there...?"

"Well, Ash Ketchum...now I know how you feel about me..."

Ash's eyes snapped open, then immediately shut against the annoying buzz of the static. Where were these voices coming from? And who was that guy near the end? He didn't recognize that voice at all. The sudden burst of questions, combined with his headache overwhelmed him, and he started groaning.

It wasn't a very loud groan. Not very loud at all, but loud enough.

**---**

May was growing impatient. Jessie had opened up 18 doors now, and Ash was behind none of them. It was almost like she had no idea which door opened into the room Ash was in. May turned to Misty, to see what she thought. To May's surprise, Misty was on her knees, legs spread out to either side, holding her head. Togetic was floating next to her, trying to comfort her, as was Pikachu, but to no avail.

May glanced at the others. They hadn't noticed Misty's condition at all. Then she noticed Pikachu's cheeks sparked as it decided to take drastic measures, and she decided it might be best to move out of the direct path between the Electric type and her companions.

"Pi...ka...chu!" Brock, Max, and Jessie were shocked—literally. May had moved out of the Thunderbolt's range just in time, so she was unharmed. The other humans landed on the ground, slightly charred. They recovered quickly enough, and turned on Pikachu.

"I know where I'm going, alright?" Jessie shouted angrily. The others looked over at her with a suspicious eyes; she sweatdropped and waved her hands in front of her face. "Not that any of you would think that, right?" The Team Rocket agent panicked when she got no answer, and asked again, tense. "_Right_?" The others just shook their heads at her, then looked back at Pikachu. The electric type pointed to Misty, whose condition seemed to be growing worse.

"Get out of my head..." The Water type trainer muttered. Her eyes widened, and she sat up to look at Jessie. "You were there when Ash saved our Pokémon after they were cloned? How..." She broke off, and shook her head again. Brock was more concerned about Misty's health, as was Max, but May noticed Jessie's eyes widen when Misty mentioned a lab. The red-head's legs fell out beneath her, and she landed on the ground, her hands to either side as a means of balance, and her legs sprawled.

"What's wrong, Misty?" Brock asked. Misty stood up, swayed, regained her balance, and started walking down the hall. Brock and Max followed her closely, ready to catch her if she fell again. Pikachu scampered behind them, while Togetic floated along, almost completely calm.

"Ash?" She called out, opening doors along the hall. "Ash? Where are you?"

May gently prodded Jessie's shoulder, making the blue-eyed girl sway slightly. The girl hadn't moved since collapsing to the floor. Jessie turned sharply, glanced at May, and frowned.

She snapped at the Coordinator. "What do _you_ want?" May forced Jessie to reveal every detail of the moment Misty had somehow known. Jessie half-laughed when she was done. "I don't know why I was so surprised she knew; the twerp would have told his little girlfriend everything, wouldn't he?"

"Girlfriend?" May asked, confused. Jessie's eyes had glazed over as she began to daydream of her own perfect boyfriend, and was lost to May and the real world. May sighed, annoyed. She swore to herself there and then that she would never like a boy like that; it was a disgusting and annoying habit.

"Hey, May," a high-pitched voice shouted. Jessie and May glanced to their left, Jessie disappointed at being woken up from her paradise, while May smiled as she noticed the small figure in the distance (man, was that hallway long) waving to her. "Mind hurrying up a bit?"

Brock waved to them as well. "Max is right...hurry up!" Jessie got up and rushed down the hall, but May paused a moment. Pikachu, who had come behind May during her discussion with Jessie, climbed onto May's shoulder—a favorite resting spot on any friend for the electric-charged rodent—and twitched an ear. May stood up, wondering what her little pal was doing…then she almost thought she heard a sound.

There it was again. A low groan coming from the opposite direction the others were headed. And it sounded like—

"Pikapi!" Pikachu jumped off May's shoulder and rushed off. Misty froze, about 15 doorways down the hall. If Pikachu called out Ash's name, it could only mean that it had seen him or heard him. And—she looked behind her—Pikachu was headed away from them. That meant—

"C'mon, guys!" Misty spun 180 degrees and dashed between the others, pushing Jessie and Brock to either side. "Ash's this way!" Max, Brock, Togetic, and Jessie chased after Misty and May (who had taken chase the moment Pikachu leapt off her shoulder). The teenage girls were chasing after Pikachu, and all of the group rushed after Pikachu, putting all their faith in the Pokémon and hoping it would lead them to their friend—hoping Pikachu would lead them to Ash.

**---**

It kept popping up. That one day...one of the saddest in all of Ash's life; the day Misty and Brock had had to leave him behind, to assist their families at home. But it wasn't even all of the day that played before Ash's closed eyes. Like some odd sort of montage, it was just a small number of scenes that seemed so...unconnected...and he didn't know how he knew half of them.

_"...I'm _fine_, just leave me alone!" _

"...he's not even upset that we have to split up..."

"...and a handkerchief to wrap it up in."

"...now I know how you feel about me..."

Soon enough, there were only one scene flashing before his eyes, and Ash had a good idea of what it meant. This certainty only grew stronger as the moment repeated again and again, and again…

_"...and a handkerchief to wrap it up in..." _

"...a handkerchief to wrap it up in..."

"...a handkerchief..."

An entirely different scene came to mind as this scene began to fade…a moment from the Orange Islands. When he closed his eyes, Ash could see everything perfectly. There was Melody, standing next to wherever Ash was seeing things. Tracey and Slowking were behind them. In front of Ash was extreme dejá vu: Lugia had fallen; in that pool of ice-freezing water that stood out clearly against the ice, Ash was floating, and was close to drowning.

Melody was impatient and worried. _"I'm going out there. Chosen One or not, Ash can't do this alone."_

The figure Ash was viewing the scene from shook their head from side to side and spoke. _"Uh-uh. That boy out there is my burden—and this is yours."_

Ash recognized that voice—it was Misty. And she said...he was her burden? Like, her responsibility? But...wouldn't that mean...?

Ash could have slapped himself. "I've been thinking _way_ too hard. That stupid handkerchief mean what it would have meant if any other girl gave it to me..." The Pokémon Trainer smiled. "Well, I now can talk to her, according to the promise I made to myself. The only problem now—" he frowned, puzzled once more "—is what I'll say to her."

Behind Ash, the door burst open.

**---**

How odd this has been lately.

I'm glad some people liked my story...thing.

I dun' care about the rules they have made for reviews; those are for people who have, like, five hundred reviews a chapter, and who ask their reviewers all sorts of questions and stuff like that. Last I checked, I don't do that.

**---**

**Fanfic reading suggestion of the chapter:**

"**Closure" and its sequel, "Possibilities," by Warlordess.**

Official descriptions:

Ash's stupidity gains him a visit to Misty's Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty.

After his week at Misty's gym, Ash returns home, becoming aware of his feelings for her. Given the chance to tell her, he makes his leave to Cerulean City. How will it end?

Very good story. Doesn't involve many characters, but an excellent story, as is to be expected of Warlordess. (I shall stop the utter flattery now.)

---

**Reviews!**

**annoyed person**: Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you like the story; I must admit, the shippy-ness has been little-to-no as of yet…and my slapstick-type humor has not really faded out as the story should have gotten serious. -sweatdrops- Yeah. Well, I'm glad you liked the story, and I hope you enjoy the rest.

**Soft Flame Matthias**: It's quite alright that the review was "late"…better late than never, no? I presume you don't like Florida much? Elvis could be added in, at a some point in the sequel…I suppose. But it's not likely. Sorry. -frowns-

You are a very polite man; the world sobs for the loss of more men like you. I suppose chivalry still exists…I'm glad it's there in you.

Jessie? Fair? Don't we wish. It does seem a bit pathetic at times, but they are the sort of villains you watch episodes anxiously for, wondering just what their plot repeat of the day is, and trying to predict who will blast them off this time. I'm afraid the seriousness is lost on myself…I rather think I went around far too light hearted…it might just be that the next sequence of events is much more serious…and the fact that this is _Team Rocket_ we're talking about here. Are Jessie, James, and Meowth really so much of a threat in the day and age that is Hoenn?

I think Brock would be happy to get recognition. Like the class clown; it doesn't matter what they specifically, or their attitude towards the clown. All the clown cares about is getting attention, being noticed. That, and the fact that I wanted the end of chapter to be dramatic. And not reveal a single clue as to who had just burst through the doors. Something like a dramatic ending to a final episode in a season of a TV show. I dunno…I guess "Lost" might be a decent example of that.

Brock's version of chivalry is one that says "EVERY ATTRACTIVE WOMAN IN THE WORLD NEEDS BROCK TO SAVE THEM! AND SOME OF BROCK'S FRIENDS COUNT, TOO." -chuckles- He is overly hormonal…but if there be chivalry nowhere else, we can be grateful for Brock's unending devotion to the female race.

Once again, I realize this is lighthearted. I also recognize that you are right; a darker mood would be more appropriate. I hope you enjoy this chapter, even if the story continues to be lighthearted. (I tried to change it…and you could always say that "It's Team Rocket—big stinkin' deal" is the attitude our heroes have.)

What happened? That's a mystery that shall remain unanswered…for now.

It becomes vitally important later on…as does an earlier moment, originally considered insignificant by most. -smirks- Some of my SPPf readers still don't know what that other scene is.

For the loyal readers, a chapter! Also, an answer to your question, isn't it? Thanks once again for reviewing!

**Ri2**: What's this? You're logged in? -gasps- What a great surprise! ;P

I'm glad you found that funny. A devolution? -chuckles- I suppose you could say that. I was originally thinking of having Jessie say "Typical James…" but decided against it. Your thoughts? And no, that was unintended. This chapter's lousy puns, however…I'm also glad you liked that match-up; as you know, something similar comes up later. Yes, Psyduck's claws are _totally_ too lame. I remember the first time it used the attack: Psyduck raises a webbed wing; the three points one assumes to be feathers or fingers sparkle briefly, and Psyduck "slaps" its opponent's face twice. (I don't remember who it was attacking…) Thin red lines appear.

Yes, they _are _quite incompetent, but they are too proud to say they are equals on the cognitive front…well, Meowth and Jessie are, anyway. Misty _always_ has a defeatist tone when Psyduck comes out, then it saves the day; I figured it was time for a swap: Misty has hope, and Psyduck loses. Why not? What's up with her? Well…-looks from side to side- Chapter 6 _might_ answer that question…or it might just raise some more. ;P

Yes, I really liked it that much. Uh…which character is this? Oh! The "mysterious character" who returns, or what…? -confused- I'm not including Sakura in this…or do you mean Mizuna…? -_very_ confused- The promise from those episodes…oh, right. You can deduce what you want to deduce from all that…

Three Togetics? -tries to remember- Uh…not sure about that number there, but you can assume such assumptions pretty safely, methinks. In hindsight, you didn't guess too much, as no one else reading this story has any idea of what you're speaking.

Your Wallace pwns. Thanks for reviewing!

RoseRosa: Aw, thanks. Here's your chapter; I hope it's as good as the last one! Thanks again!

**---**

What—I finished editing this chapter in, um…how many days, Ri2? ;P Boy, did that month go by fast.

Laters, y'all! I hope you enjoy the chapter, and the next one to come!


	10. Permission Granted, Second Badge

**The First Awakening  
**

Chapter 10

**---**

Misty was sure now—there was someone behind this door. She pushed against it, but it was stuck shut. She backed up and rammed into it, but to no avail. Finally, she stood back, lifted a bent leg into the air, and straightened it. The increased pressure of her rage caused by extreme impatience and worry caused the door to burst open, and she raced inside. May and Max slowed to a stop, then stared at the door. A dent from the kick had caused the stainless steel door to have a Numel hump-like bulge on one side and a small valley on the other.

"Whoa…" Max said at last. "I wouldn't want to get on _her_ bad side."

May nodded weakly as Brock came up beside them and gaped at the door. "That's for sure."

In the room, Misty was fumbling with the locked chains holding Ash on the chair. "Hold on, Ash," she muttered. "We'll get you out, somehow."

Ash turned his head as best he could, trying to see who his savior was. "Misty?"

She jumped back, apparently having not realized Ash was conscious. "Oh good, you're awake! Hey Brock, does Jessie have the key to this chain?" She shouted behind her. "I can't get it loose." Brock turned around to ask the Team Rocket member, but discovered an empty hallway.

Togetic floated past Brock and hovered next to Ash. The Normal type held its arms up, and they glowed blue. The chains lifted into the air for a moment, then snapped in two. Misty helped Ash up as he rubbed his arms to get the circulation flowing—the chains had been very tight.

"Thanks, Togetic." He said. "I owe ya one." A short cry, and Ash turned his head. The Pokémon trainer's small yellow pal jumped into his arms. He rubbed it on its head and laughed for a moment. "Hey buddy!" Pikachu took its place on his shoulder as they stepped out into the hall, where Ash was greeted happily.

"Hey Ash!"

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

Brock, Max, and May crowded around Ash, pushing Misty and Togetic off to the side. They looked at the scene, simultaneously happy and sad. Understanding that they were out of place, they turned and started walking down the hall. Soon enough, they were at the elevator. They got in and kept their eyes away from the hallway, not a single wistful glance left behind.

"It's been great to see you again, Togetic." Misty said in a falsely cheerful voice, turning possible conversation away from the obvious concern at hand. "Did May really catch you?"

Togetic looked for a long moment at its surrogate mother. It thought for a long moment, and then spoke telepathically to Misty. _Well, I think she did…but I'm sure that you'll be my Mommy once again once she sees those papers of mine._ Misty nodded. She began to reply, but the elevator chimed, interrupting her. The doors opened, and they walked out. As soon as the door beeped as it shut once more, she and Togetic were backed up against the wall, surrounded.

**---**

Ash was glad to be back with his friends, and soon had answered all their questions. When they had backed away from him enough and he had a good look around, he frowned. "Where's Misty and Togetic?" He wondered aloud.

Brock smirked wickedly. "Why so worried, Ash? Need to make sure your _girlfriend_ is okay?" His smirk turned into a wince of pain as he soon was nursing a bump to his head. May and Max were confused.

"That's the second time someone called Misty Ash's girlfriend today," May mused. "How strange…" Max glanced over at his sister, a look of annoying superiority covering his face. She looked down at him. They stared off for awhile.

Finally, May asked, "What?" Max slapped a hand to his face and shook his head slowly, facing away from May once again.

"_What_?"

"Ow…" Brock moaned, attempting to discover how bad the injury Ash had given to him was by gently poking at it with his hands. Ash ignored his friend's pain.

"Serves you right," he said, turning from Brock so the breeder couldn't see Ash's reddened face. "But seriously, did they go somewhere?" Max and May looked to their left and to their right. It seemed to be true.

Misty and Togetic were gone.

And Ash, it also seemed, was determined to find them. He raced down the hall, Pikachu scampering right behind him, with Brock, Max, and May following the duo.

**---**

Misty peered over the tranquilizer gun barrels at the people aiming them and sighed with relief when she realized it was the Officer Jenny of Sootopolis City and a few other members of the force. Jenny recognized her, and the men lowered their weapons on her order. She approached Misty, and the two began chatting; some minor inquiries about Wallace's injuries had made it so they were now well acquainted.

"What're you doing here, Misty?"

"I should ask the same of you. I thought you normally stayed within city limits…"

Jenny smiled and explained. "Well, Wallace called to let me know a couple of kids were headed over this way. Thought there might be trouble. He also wanted to increase his life insurance, so I directed him to Chansey Life and Injury. I had a feeling he had done something you didn't want him to do, though he didn't say anything. That's been the only reason he's ever raised his insurance lately."

Misty chuckled. "Actually, Ash and I have a few bones to pick with him. Probably his spine." Seeing Jenny's confused expression, she explained further. "Pokémon Trainer…he was at Green Field when the whole issue with the Unown happened—his mom was the one taken? Ring a bell?"

Jenny nodded. "Oh, right…my second cousin told me about that. Weren't you there too?" Misty nodded. Jenny ignored her underlings, who were lounging around awkwardly, waiting for the raid on the building to continue. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Really long story short? Ash was captured, and Team Rocket wanted me to battle to save him. I did, Togepi evolved, and the two of us left." Jenny (who had taken some classes early in her career on minute facial expressions) noted Misty's sad expression easily. It was quite obvious that something was wrong.

"And they are…where, exactly?"

Misty smiled forlornly, knowing she had been caught. "Oh, you know how it is, don't you Jenny? I don't belong there, with them, anymore…and so what? Being able to see them again was worth it. I can do what I came here to do."

"So can we, Misty."

Jenny glanced behind Misty, who turned around to see Ash, Brock, Max, May, and Pikachu standing in front of the elevator. Misty's mouth fell open, and she was speechless. They had come for her…? But…they had new friends now, and different goals, and…_why_?

The silence was quickly shattered when Brock lost his head, yet again; his eyes turned to hearts at the sight of the female police officer, and he sprung at her. Before he could get a word out, Misty had a firm hold on one ear and Max had grabbed the other. They yanked forcefully and walked off, leaving May, Ash, and Pikachu to laugh nervously and sweatdrop.

Brock stretched his arms towards Officer Jenny, futilely attempting to reach the policewoman. "My darling! Though these…_fools_…have attempted to separate us, I know we shall meet aga—_ow_! Not the ear…_not the ear_!"

Once Brock had been successfully dissuaded from going after Jenny, Misty turned to Ash, having found something to say. "…I thought you guys were okay, and I could go back to my life."

Ash smiled. "Not a chance, Misty. We're a part of your life, aren't we? And if nothing else, I had to thank you. You saved Pikachu—and me—from actually being captured by Team Rocket. Besides—" he frowned "—we have a score to settle with a certain gym leader, don't we?"

Misty narrowed her eyes, knowing what Ash meant. Then she stopped short. "You saw…?"

"…there was a giant TV screen in my chambers. I saw the whole thing. Which reminds me…" He whispered with Misty a moment, then she handed him something familiar. Brock paled and started to back up slowly then just broke into a run, bursting through the doors. Ash chased after him, a mallet in hand.

Misty smiled as Pikachu and Togetic shook their heads. _"That's something you don't see everyday…"_ Max, May, and Jenny sweatdropped as Ash finally nailed Brock on the head. He raised he mallet triumphantly and raced back over to the cabin, leaving Brock swirl-eyed on the ground.

"Thanks," Ash said, smiling as he handed the mallet back to Misty.

She smiled back. "No problem, Ash. I always did wonder how well you would handle a mallet." They smiled at each other a bit longer. Ash suddenly realized how close they were to each other. Also recalling what he had realized earlier, Ash backed off quickly. He turned away from Misty, his face left warm from the brief "encounter" and Misty left confused by Ash's reaction.

**---**

Having been slightly delayed by the reunion, it was of little surprise that the building was vacated, with not even a Meowth whisker or rose petal left behind to tie the kidnapping and illegal battle to Team Rocket. All the videotapes had been erased or removed; the only thing left behind that was obviously not there beforehand was a room filled with chicken-, beef-, and shrimp-flavored ramen packages.

Officer Jenny and her coworkers brought the group downtown to fill out the papers necessary for recording abductions and illegal battling. The moment they were finished, Ash and Misty raced down the street, furious looks on their faces. Brock, Max, and May rushed after them, waving a short farewell to Officer Jenny over their shoulders. Pikachu rode on May's shoulder as she tried to catch up with her friends; Togetic was keeping a close watch from above.

Jenny shook her head, watching the kids try and catch up to Ash and Misty. "Those kids…are the kind of people you don't meet everyday…"

**---**

Wallace glanced out the window and cursed mentally. They had gotten here faster than he had thought, and he _still_ hadn't discovered any plausible reason as to _why_ they were coming; he only knew that they were. Now he had no time to hide in the bomb shelter. He'd have to use the smaller hideaway under the floorboards. Turning back to the video screen he was sitting in front of, he whispered, "On second thought, would you make that an increase of 1 million Pokéyen?"

The clerk onscreen jumped back at the term. "One _million_ Pokéyen, sir? After all your increases today (and having only joined our great and noble company this very afternoon) you want another million Pokéyen added on?" Wallace nodded frantically. The confused man typed on his computer for a moment, then looked back up at Wallace. "Your insurance has been increased by one million Pokéyen, sir. Is that everything for today?"

"…that'll be all. Thanks a lot!"

"Thank you, sir! I hope you don't ever have to use it!" The clerk smiled cheerfully, which was regulation at Chansey Life and Injury; supposedly, it made people feel safer and cheerful.

Wallace merely shook his head and mumbled, "Don't I wish…" before breaking the connection. Then the doors behind him were unlocked, and he dove to his hiding spot, hardly knowing why he needed to hide.

When Brock, Max, and May got to the room Ash and Misty had rushed into with a passionate fury, an incredibly strange sight met their eyes.

Ash and Misty were scurrying around the room, mallets held high above their heads. Wallace couldn't be seen, but Brock imagined that he was curled up in a ball, whimpering in an embarrassing way for a man in his forties. Brock sighed and motioned for Max and May to do what he did. He grabbed Ash beneath his arms with his own arms, and the mallet dropped onto the floor. A short cry slipped out from underneath the plush carpeting.

Everyone froze.

Seconds before Max and May slipped their arms around her waist, Misty was lifting up the carpeting, and then a trap door. A shock of blue hair was visible from where they stood, and Misty leapt into the tunnel. Ash broke loose of Brock's grip and followed his friend into the depths of the floorboards.

Brock, Max, May, Pikachu, and Togetic stood perfectly still (Togetic now on Max's head, Pikachu on Brock's shoulder). Occasionally blinking, they ignored screams, crashes, and other random noises. They barely sweatdropped when a mallet came flying out from inside the secret area, and only moved back a little when a slightly dusty Ash climbed out. He grabbed Misty's hand and pulled her out. They dusted themselves off. Looking at their friends and noticing the odd looks on each of their faces, Ash and Misty pointed down at the floorboards.

"He deserved it."

When Wallace feebly scrambled out of the hiding area, he was battered and bruised in many places, with bumps and lumps slowly beginning to form. The gym leader winced as he sat down on a squishy armchair, then relaxed a bit and sighed.

Brock whistled. "Quite a number they pulled on you, huh, Wallace?" Wallace raised an eyebrow at the Pokémon breeder, then sank lower into the seat, his head in his hands. Brock chuckled. "Glad it wasn't me this time."

Max whispered to May, "_Definitely _don't want to get on their bad sides." May nodded.

Wallace raised his head and looked around, trying to determine if there was any damage to his vision. His eyes glanced briefly across the room, pausing briefly upon seeing in a mirror. His eyes widened, but he quickly moved on. A figure behind Max caught his attention much more obviously; everyone else turned to see no other than Togetic.

The Happiness Pokémon was embarrassed by everyone's stares. It turned to Misty. _"You'd better tell Wallace what happened, Mommy. I think he's confused."_

_"I don't think he's the only one…"_ Misty thought. Then she cleared her throat. "I think we've got some explaining to do…" The others snapped out of their trances and began a round of question and answer.

Soon enough, all questions were answered, and Wallace was about to go redeem his insurance for his injuries, when Misty realized she had forgotten something.

"Wait up, Wallace!" She cried out. "What about earlier? You said you had something to cheer me up, so I wouldn't feel sad about Togepi leaving…what was it?" Wallace slapped his forehead and raced out of the room and down the hall to the left, entering Misty's room. When he came back into the room, a mallet met him head on.

Misty growled, "I've told you a _thousand_ times, Wallace; _don't go in my room_." Wallace weakly got up off the floor and held out something to Misty the others couldn't see at first; she squealed and dropped her mallet. Wallace was grabbed tightly around the throat as Misty muttering excited thanks before letting him fall to the floor to catch his breath. She turned around holding the object gently in her arms, beaming with pride. It was a perfectly shaped pink Pokémon egg.

Max went straight up to Misty to inspect the egg, but was pulled back quickly by Ash and Brock. They didn't want Max hurt, and that was a surefire way to do so, which they had learned the hard way.

Instead, Brock questioned Wallace. "What egg is—"

"—Luvdisc." Brock and Max ooh-ed and aw-ed at the egg, watching it shimmer in its pink glory. "It's a fantastic specimen, Wallace." Max commented as he observed it using a high-power magnifying lens; Misty just let him hold it when she saw how excited he was about it.

"It's your Luvdisc's egg, isn't it, Wallace?" Wallace nodded and tossed out Luvdisc's Pokéball. The pink Pokémon twirled around a moment and started to perform before it realized that it wasn't showing off or practicing. Wallace panicked slightly, then retained his cool, but the damage was done. May was now gaping widely at Wallace, as were Ash, Pikachu, Max, and Brock.

Misty crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at Wallace. "Now, didn't I say it would come out eventually? Didn't I?"

Wallace looked down at his feet. "Yes…"

"And what did I say you should do?"

"Just tell everyone the truth…"

"Mm hmm…and did you?"

"No…"

May jumped in. "You're a Coordinator?" When Wallace nodded, she squealed at a tone to rival Misty's own. "Please, teach me _everything_ you know! I want to be as ready as possible for the Grand Festival!" Wallace backed up against the wall as May leaned in towards him excitedly, asking what she should do in any situation.

Misty watched, slightly amused, while Max sweatdropped, embarrassed beyond reason by his sibling. Brock was still getting over how much like his youngest sister Wallace had acted when Misty had spoken to him. Ash seemed like he wanted to say something, but waited for May to finish. When it became obvious she wasn't ending the one-sided conversation anytime soon, he began interrupting quietly.

"…well? What do you think I should do against Kelly's Grumpig?"

"Umm…Wallace…? May?"

"Well? If Harley uses his Cacturne, would my Combusken be the best option? Or should I try working with my Bulbasaur, Grass type against Grass type?"

"Wallace…?"

"Or if Drew uses his Masquerain? Do you think Skitty could defeat it?"

"…May?"

"What if he has a newPokémon?" May began to panic a little, and started to ramble on about nothing in particular. It was obvious nerves over the upcoming competition were getting to her. Ash, however, was far too impatient to allow something like that to get in his way.

"May, let me speak!" Ash shouted out.

May stopped talking and turned to look at Ash. Realizing how she had been acting, the Coordinator slapped a hand to her forehead. "Sorry Ash; I went overboard there, didn't I?"

Ash nodded, half smiling. "Wallace, now that the majority of your injuries have healed, can I ask a favor?"

Wallace seemed surprised at Ash's question. The kid was pretty polite. "Well…sure, I guess so…"

"Great! I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!" Ash shouted boldly, a finger pointed at the Gym Leader. Everyone looked on as Wallace considered the request.

They waited and waited and waited, for a very long time, before he decided.

"Nope." Noticing that Ash, and everyone else, had facefaulted, he added, "Don't worry, Ash. One of my assistants will battle you."

Ash recovered instantly and smiled widely, as did Pikachu, now sitting upon his shoulder. Max was excited to see the assistant battle Ash, wondering what technique they could use against Pikachu and Grovyle, as they would be at a weakness on two fronts. May was also glad to see a battle, wondering if Wallace's assistant would be a coordinator too. Misty was shocked for a moment, then glared fiercely at Wallace.

Brock, always observing, noticed how upset Misty was all of a sudden. He put two and two together, and smirked before asking a question. "How many assistants do you have, Wallace?"

Wallace rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "Only one, actually." Brock smirked more. Max realized what this meant soon enough, as did May. They smiled too.

As they walked into the battle room to wait for Ash to come out, Brock muttered, "This should be interesting…"

Ash was too excited to notice how odd his friends were acting. He had already won this badge, but he wanted to test his skills against the _true_ Sootopolis Gym Leader. Even though he was not facing the actual gym leader, Wallace's assistant should have learned more from Wallace than anyone else. Of course, Wallace might have learned everything _he_ knew from Adan, but that was beside the point. Ash walked into the trainer's entrance, while Misty, Togetic, and Wallace walked off to another entrance. Ash idly wondered why Misty wasn't going to watch the battle with the others, but shrugged it off as loyalty to her superior.

Ash walked through the tunnel to the battle rooms and came out onto the water field, Pikachu on his shoulder. Wallace was standing off to one side, holding the official red and green flags designed for a battle. Brock, Max, and May were sitting across from the Gym Leader. Ash frowned slightly; Misty wasn't even going to _watch _Wallace's assistant battle? Where was she?

Wallace crossed his arms, the flags held pointing up. "This is a 2-on-2 Pokémon battle between the challenger, Ash Ketchum, and the Sootopolis Gym assistant, Misty Waterflower."

Ash and Pikachu reacted violently. This was something he hadn't expected. And it wasn't a very good thing. Then Ash remembered what Wallace had said earlier: _"Sorry about that, Ash. I just broke two of Misty's most important laws." He chuckled. "Look at me. I'm supposed to be the gym leader, and I'm following strict rules set down for me by my assistant."_

Ash and Misty had quite an unusual relationship when it came to Pokémon battles. Their first battle had been undecided, as Team Rocket had interrupted before it ended (Ash was convinced he had won; Misty had argued constantly that _she_ had been about to win). Their next battle, Ash had won the right to battle Meowth for Togepi, but Misty had ended up keeping Togepi. Ash had won when they battled for Totodile, then Misty won during the Whirl Cup. It had basically evened out; neither of them truly had more wins than the other.

Ash was worried about this battle; Misty was one of the people he wasn't always confident he could win against. Now wasn't the time to battle her, when this win really counted for his last bit of training. On the other side of the field, Misty had appeared with Togetic floating near her shoulder. The two friends were practically reflected images, with a Pokémon by their head and a similar look on their faces. They were reluctant to battle, for once. "Let the battle begin!"

"Pikachu, go!" Misty sighed and rolled her eyes, all reluctance gone.

"You honestly think _that_ will work? It didn't work the last two times you battled me, Ash…this time is no different. I call on Togetic!" Ash was not surprised, as were Brock and Pikachu, though Pikachu was still slightly reluctant to battle Pipipi, like Meowth had been earlier.

"Use Metronome!" Togetic began waving its little hands back and forth, and soon enough they glowed blue. This sort of attack could be the undoing of a battle before it even started. Ash needed to plan for anything, and suddenly came up with one.

"Quick Attack, Pikachu!" Pikachu began zigzagging across the field, jumping from float to float. The Metronome ended, revealing itself to be a Thundershock. Misty smirked.

"Perfect, Togetic! Aim it at the water!" The bolt of electricity flew from between Togetic's miniscule hands and into the pool, where it crackled and traveled across the surface and across the floats. Pikachu was on a float near the center of the mini-blast, as was hit hard. It was flung into the water and left paddling frantically to keep its head up. "Yawn, Togetic!" Togetic opened its mouth wide and released a large gust of air, which hit Pikachu directly. Ash now only had one turn before it was over for Pikachu. Ash ran through the possibilities quickly. He had one shot at this, so he hoped for the best.

"Pikachu! Use Slam!" Pikachu raced towards the heart Pokémon and rammed its shoulder into Togetic's chest, forcing it backward in midair. With the attack ended, Pikachu felt the effects of the Yawn and became drowsy. Soon enough, Pikachu was snoring away on a bright yellow float that matched its fur perfectly.

"Pikachu is unable to battle! Togetic wins!" Wallace cried out. Togetic used some sort of glowing-blue attack similar to Metronome to lift Pikachu into the air. Pikachu was laid down by Ash's side, blowing a giant anime sleeping-bubble. Ash's hat covered his face for a moment, but then he was grinning wildly at Misty, a Pokéball in hand.

"If that's the way you want it, Misty…I choose you, Grovyle!" The wood gecko popped out of its Pokéball, ready to battle. Misty was slightly afraid, but she relaxed. Even if Togetic lost, she had the perfect opponent for Grovyle. "Fury Cutter!" The leaves on either arm glowed white and Grovyle jumped into action. It struck once, twice, three times before Misty could react.

"Teleport!" Togetic dematerialized just in time to avoid the fifth attack, but there was significant damage done regardless. Togetic was panting heavily, and it was obvious to Misty that Togetic wouldn't survive an attack a third of that Fury Cutter's power. Grovyle was also tired, though not as much so; an attack of that size could take a lot out of a Pokémon, and this one was no different. Ash was determined that they wouldn't lose another round; he wasn't about to lose the battle for his last badge.

"You've gotten very good at handling Togetic, Misty. Especially after only having it for a few hours." Misty flushed, not expecting a compliment during a battle.

"Thanks, Ash—"

"—too bad it won't make a difference. I'm not gonna lose this match." Misty frowned, upset at being deceived.

"You'd better take that back Ash. Your mom wouldn't like to hear you've been lying." Ash frowned deeper than Misty had.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Really…"

"Yes, really!"

"Well, we'll just see about that!"

"Oh, will we?"

"Yeah, we will!"

"You sure about that?" Brock smiled weakly at the arguing pair, while May and Max slid behind him, sweatdropping.

"What are they doing?" Max asked.

Brock turned to look at him. He started to speak, then just shook his head. "You'll see." Turning back to Ash and Misty, he cupped his mouth with his hands and shouted, "Tracey sends his best wishes, you lovebirds, you!"

Ash and Misty turned to him angrily and shouted, "Be quiet, Brock!" They turned to each other, stared a moment, blushed, and turned back to Brock. Misty threw her mallet at Brock, who ducked. The mallet then spun around in midair and hit Brock in the back of the head. May, Max, and Wallace sweatdropped and looked down at Brock lying on the ground.

"Boomerang mallet?"

"Yep." Misty looked over at Ash. "Now, quit talking and start battling!" Ash glanced back at the field. Togetic and Grovyle had healed somewhat, but Togetic was still exhausted. Now was the time for a KO.

"Leaf Blade!" Grovyle's right group of leaves glowed a brighter white than the Fury Cutter had, and it charged. The grass attack hit Togetic fast and hard. It fell to land on the sky blue float. After a few moments, it struggled to its feet and rose into the air. The flying type stayed up for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, not having enough power to even stay in the air. Togetic strained to arise, but after three tries slumped down, giving up the fight to stay in the battle. Its eyes began swirled shapes, and Misty jumped down to pick it up as Wallace pointlessly announced, "Togetic is unable to battle. Grovyle wins."

Ash smirked at Misty as she climbed back up. "Looks like you aren't winning this one so easy, Misty."

"There's still a chance left for each of us, Ash." Misty retorted, too concerned for Togetic's health to get seriously involved in another argument. "So just stow it, would you?"

Ash may have been, well, not all that smart about some things, but he knew when he had gone too far. "Fine…just choose your last Pokémon."

Misty smiled and reached for a Pokéball. "Don't worry; I saved this one for last for a reason. Let's go, Gyarados!" The great blue water Pokémon roared its fierce roar, coming out into the pool with a raging wave splashing behind it. Ash was a bit taken aback at its size; Gyarados always look bigger up close than anywhere else. "Use Flamethrower!" Ash hopped back a step on the platform, shocked at the idea of a water type pulling that sort of attack. And yet there it was; a torrential flood of flames pouring out of Gyarados's mouth and headed straight at Grovyle.

"Use Quick Attack, Grovyle! Get out of the way!" Grovyle used its speedy move and escaped the blast—or so it seemed. Moments later, Grovyle noticed it was on fire, and it hopped around in circles on a group of red floats for awhile before deciding to jump in the pool. Washed off and cooled down, Grovyle was ready to battle again. "Now use Bullet Seed!" Grovyle obeyed, and a rush of golden pods of energy struck out at Gyarados.

"Oh, no! Gyarados!" Misty cried out, seeing her Pokémon in pain. Gyarados was soon relieved, as the Bullet Seed was a short, but powerful one. "Alright, Gyarados! Use Dragon Rage!" Gyarados's strength grew and Grovyle's was knocked down a bit by the power of the attack, but the match between the two was still pretty even.

"Quick Attack, then Pound!" Grovyle zipped into action, too fast to stop. Misty couldn't see it, and Gyarados, looking around frantically, was unable to spot it. "Now!" Gyarados looked up, and there was Grovyle, poised to attack, its tail ready to slam down onto Gyarados's skull.

"Gyarados! Bite it's tail!" Gyarados obeyed, and Grovyle was stuck. It's tail was smarting, and the pain certainly didn't lessen when Gyarados began to swing the gecko Pokémon around in the air.

"Interesting technique," Brock commented. "Misty took one of Gyarados's most basic moves and turned it into a defense. Good thinking on her part."

"She always was a better strategist than me," Wallace admitted sheepishly. "And I honestly never took it into thought that an offensive move could ever be used as a defensive one. Misty's much better at being a Gym Leader than I am, and she's supposed to be learning from me." Wallace shook his head. "It's embarrassing, really."

Gyarados let go, and Grovyle was sent flying into the wall. Max and May, standing nearby, jumped back from Grovyle with a shriek and a gasp. Grovyle seemed down for the count, despite Ash's calls to it to get up and win because he knew it could. Wallace waved a green referee's flag towards Misty. "Grovyle is unable to battle. The win—" Wallace stopped. Grovyle had struggled slowly to its feet, no about to give up. Wallace spread his arms out; the red and green flags pointed to Ash and Misty respectfully. "Continue the match!"

Ash was anxious. Grovyle was very weak right now, able to lose at any time. A good side to this was an effect of Grovyle's that Ash had discovered recently: whenever it was very weak, one kind of its attack grew tremendously stronger. The grass types. And he had just the move to finish the battle, using this effect. "Use one last Bullet Seed, Grovyle! Make it a strong one!" The bright yellow balls of energy that blasted forth from Grovyle's jaw were the largest and most powerful it had ever made. But Misty was ready this time.

"Hydro Pump, Gyarados! Deflect the Bullet Seed!" The burst of water that came out of the dragon's mouth was one of the most pressurized, and therefore powerful, attacks it had performed in all its life as a Pokémon.

Ash and Misty's reputations were on the line here; their constant challenge to see who was the better of the two of them had reached its peak. This final confrontation would reveal who really was the superior trainer.

The two attacks collided; a cloud of mist and steam and dust swirled into the air, concealing the happenings of the battle to the onlookers. Togetic and Pikachu were wide-awake now; they were not going to miss the climax of this battle. Ash, Misty, Brock, Max, May, Wallace, Togetic, and Pikachu watched anxiously, waiting for a visual confirmation of the end, for this was surely the end of the battle. Soon enough, nature's veil of water and air dissipated, revealing the end result of the battle below.

Gyarados was out cold, its breath creating bubbles in the surrounding water of the field. Everyone but Misty, Togetic, and Wallace were joyous at this sight, but their elation was shortly ended when they saw what had the others stock-still.

Grovyle was unconscious too.

The room was quiet as Ash and Misty returned their Pokémon. Misty walked out of the room, and silence still reigned. The echoes of her footsteps ricocheted through the room, the only sound to be heard. They soon were heard from behind Ash. He turned around, and there was Misty, a genuinely happy smile on her face. She held out her hand to shake his. "I think it's safe to say that the best trainer won, Ash." He laughed, shook her hand, and the tension was broken. The others began talking excitedly about the battle, Max especially amazed at the ending. Brock almost expected it, however.

"They've pretty much always been tied overall," he explained. "This just further proves their equality as trainers." _"And probably,"_ he added mentally, _"as people."_

Later on, once Nurse Joy had healed Ash and Misty's Pokémon, and Brock got a double ear pull a discussion started between Ash an the others, who explained the details of the battle and other parts that he had missed.

"The weirdest thing by far was when Misty's eyes glowed," Brock commented, about 15 minutes into the talk. "After Togepi did Safeguard, she returned to normal, not remembering anything. Wasn't that weird?" Ash scratched the back of his head.

"I actually don't remember a thing about her eyes glowing. One moment, Psyduck had lost, and the next Togepi was evolving." Max adjusted his glasses, his expression hidden behind them by the glare of the overhead lights. Brock wondered about what had seemed strange about Misty while she was in that trance-like state. He had thought it was ridiculous at the time, but his idea seemed perfectly probable now. Pikachu was thinking along the same lines. May was just plain confused, with only a small idea of what might have happened. Misty had an interesting suspicion as to why Ash didn't remember anything from that time, but wasn't sure about it at all. Suddenly, Wallace walked into the room. He had his hands behind his back and was whistling in an I'm-not-doing-anything-suspicious tone, which aroused everyone's attention, drawing them away from the confusing topic.

"What'cha got behind your back, Wallace?" May asked.

"Nothing for you, I'm afraid. Pick one or two, Brock." Brock thought for a moment.

"One." Wallace pulled his left hand out from behind his back and held it out to Ash. Brock, slightly crestfallen that the object wasn't for him, quickly got over it as he peered over Wallace's shoulder from behind. Max looked over the other shoulder, and May looked from over Ash's left shoulder. Misty glanced over his right. Wallace slowly opened his hand to reveal a small blue object. It shimmered slightly in the light, and when the glare vanished, was revealed to have darker blue streaks moving diagonally across the shape.

Misty gasped, recognized this from other places. "The Rain Badge…" she whispered. Ash, hearing her whisper so close to his ear, first tinged slightly pink, then turned sharply to look at her.

"The Rain Badge" The others, not having heard Misty the first time, jumped backwards out of shock.

Wallace pouted. "You always have to spoil my fun, don't you?" Misty smirked and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I don't understand, Wallace. What's this for?"

"What'd you _think_ it's for? You earned the badge!"

"But—"

"You may have lost the battle, but so what? I'm a worse battler than Misty is most all cases, especially involving electric Pokémon. I would have lost for sure…and also, though you may not realize it, Misty is very talented." Misty blushed, embarrassed, while Ash looked over at her a moment, a brief look of discontent passing over his face. "She is extremely talented, as a matter of fact. She competed in the Whirl Cup and did quite well for a young trainer. She took over the Cerulean Gym and boosted its reputation tremendously, erasing most thoughts of Cerulean being an easy win from trainer's minds. She's been a fantastic gym leader-in-training, and not many have come close to beating her, let alone tying with her. And yet you did tie with her. You came as close as anyone every really has with her while she worked here. You deserve that badge, if anyone truly does."

Ash was rendered speechless by this emotion-filled sermon, having never thought of Misty really being hard to beat. Sure, she had been in a competition or two, and she was a gym leader by blood, but he had never considered she might be someone to really challenge him.

Misty sniffed. "That was beautiful, Wallace. Even though Ash already earned himself a Rain Badge, and I did lose once, remember? That kid obsessed with shorts." Wallace sweatdropped.

"Oh yeah…well, you still deserve it, Ash. One and a half losses altogether is an excellent average, especially for a gym leader. Anyway," he turned to Togetic. "One or two?" Togetic held out its two hands. Wallace pulled his left hand out from behind his back and held it out to Misty. In his hand was a piece of paper.

Misty picked it up and gasped. The water Pokémon Trainer froze, dropping the paper. Trembling slightly, she looked up at Wallace. He smiled fatherly and nodded. Misty hugged Wallace tightly around the neck, mumbling cries of thanks into is shoulder. Ash picked up the piece of paper, wondering what could have made Misty so happy as to hug someone. He read it as all the others peeked over his shoulder and read along. It was a form of some kind, and it went like this:

_I, the undersigned, am of the opinion that_ Misty Waterflower_, who has asked for consideration, is ready and most perfectly capable of being a gym leader in his/her own right._

Wallace_, Gym Leader of the_ Rain Badge _of_ Sootopolis City

When done reading the form, they weren't sure what to say. Togetic trilled happily, springing at its mommy to congratulate it. Pikachu also headed over to praise her, though the smile on its face seemed forced. "Gee, Misty…that's…great," Ash said weakly. "You can go back and be the gym leader in Cerulean now. Super." Misty looked up from rubbing Pikachu's head.

"You're lying through your teeth, and I want to know why. What's so bad about me being a gym leader? It'll certainly help me on my way to becoming a great Water Pokémon Master if I'm a water gym leader for a while longer…oh…" She stopped realizing what was up. "You want me to come with you guys, don't you?" Ash nodded, not able to look up and see her expression, afraid of what it might be.

"Do _all_ of you want me to come?" Brock smiled at Misty, shaking his head in the affirmative. Max looked up at her excitedly, nodding furiously. If Misty came with them, he could learn so much about water Pokémon. May concurred her head with equal excitement. Another girl meant more opportunities for shopping sprees, especially on Princess Festival Day.

Misty turned to look at all of them in turn, not sure what to do or think. May and Max acting like bobble-head dolls; Brock just smiling at her; Wallace not knowing what to do; Pikachu just staring at the floor; Ash looking sadder by the moment. Her eyes lingered on him a moment longer, then she got a little mental message from Togetic. _"Do what you think is right. Not what's best for your career, but best for_ you_."_

As Pikachu looked up at Misty, it suddenly got an idea. It slid away from the group, looking for the subject of its search. The one thing that this entire routine would hinge on—ah, there it was.

"I…I—" Misty was cut off of her decision by a loud "CHU!", which got everyone looking over to the flash of electric power that was Pikachu. It looked down at something by its feet and everyone's mouth's dropped. Next to its feet was a small, charred, pile of metal and rubber twisted together that could only be identified as:

"My—my bike." Misty turned to Ash, and her eyes sparked as she stared at him. "Why…you…" With that, she tore after Ash, swinging around her mallet and shouting about her bike being trashed _again_ and how this time he'd actually have to pay for it himself, cause there was no Nurse Joy around to fix it. Wallace and Brock smiled as widely as possible; they knew this story by heart, and had almost hoped Pikachu would think of this.

Misty tripped and fell towards Ash. Ash caught her by her waist instinctively and pulled her upright. Misty turned to look at Ash, and he at her. They smiled at each other a moment or ten before they realized Ash was still holding Misty at the waist. They quickly turned away from each other and blushed for a moment. Brock snickered, but stopped short when two death glares of eternal pain and misery were sent his way.

Misty began to chase Ash again, though half-heartedly. Wallace walked back into the gym and came back with a Pokémon egg case. Inside was the Luvdisc egg he had given Misty earlier. He handed it to her, smiling as he did.

"Things won't be the same without you here, Misty…which may or may not be a bad thing"—he ducked to avoid a playful punch—"but take care of yourself. I'll send your sisters' this form if you ever want to become a gym leader after all. And," he whispered, very secretive all of a sudden. "Make sure to tell him someday, Misty. He has a right to know."

Misty seemed a little shocked by Wallace's final statement, but just smiled at him. "Thanks, Wallace." Misty gathered her things in her old red shoulder pack, and she was ready to go, having sent Horsea and Starmie back to the Cerulean Gym, where they could spend their days in the pool and in shows.

Wallace and his Luvdisc waited at the door to see them off. "Take care of yourselves, all of you," he said, as many had before him. "Keep an eye out for each other, and make sure to take care of that baby Luvdisc, Misty."

Misty giggled. "Don't worry, I will."

"Good luck in your contests May; remember everything I've told you about what I know. Always learn more about Pokémon, Max. There's never a limit to knowledge. Keep doing your best as a breeder, Brock. I know you'll do great, if you keep doing as well as you have."

"I'll do my best, Wallace!"

"I will!"

"Thanks, Wallace." The five friends, along with their Pokémon, walked out the door and down the road, waving to the Sootopolis Gym Leader and his pink Pokémon, who were waving back and smiling broadly. The moment they were out of site, Wallace dashed inside and began typing on his computer.

"So…where are we going now, Max?" Max took a look at the Pokénav, and did some calculations.

"There's a Contest in the next town, and it's in the right direction to head for the Hoenn League." Ash smiled widely.

"Great!" He cried out, running ahead a bit. "Let's go!" The others raced after him.

"I think I'll compete in the Contest in this next town." Misty said suddenly. "It could be fun." Ash snorted. Misty turned on him. "And what was that about, Ash Ketchum? Don't you think I can do it? _Do you?_"

Ash backed away from the glare on Misty's face, sweatdropping. "No, not that…"

"Then what?"

"…I just don't think they'll let someone like you enter…" Ash mumbled. Misty's head seemed to grow larger, and lightning crackled behind her.

"Why not?" Ash looked off to the side slyly, half-wishing he'd kept his mouth shut.

"…well, I thought they want people who are graceful and talented…"

"_Ash Ketchum!_" Misty stormed over to Ash.

"Eep!" Ash raced over to Brock, ducking behind the breeder's back.

"_Come back here!_" Misty chased Ash in circles around Brock, May, and Max. This went on for a few minutes. Max and May sweatdropped, unfamiliar with this scenario. Brock, Pikachu, and Togetic sweatdropped, all too familiar with this happening. Brock and Togetic sent Pikachu a look, and it jumped into the air, cheeks sparkling.

"Pi…ka…chu!" Ash and Misty fell to the ground, electric sparks traveling up and down their bodies. Moments later, they were up again, glaring daggers at each other. Brock held off Misty, while Togetic and Pikachu kept Ash back.

"Guys," Brock began. "Calm down. There's no reason to get so mad at each other, right?"

"_Wrong!_" Ash and Misty screamed at the same time.

"He shouldn't insult me!"

"She shouldn't chase me like that!"

"If you hadn't insulted me, I wouldn't have chased you!"

"I wouldn't have insulted you if you hadn't mentioned yourself entering a Contest!"

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's laughable, that's what!"

"Oh, is it?"

"Yeah, it is!" Ash and Misty snorted clouds of dust and glared giant rapiers of death at each other. Pikachu shocked them again, and they calmed down. As if knocked out of one mood and into another, Ash took out his Rain Badge and polished it a bit to remove the dust and charred bits of cloth.

"Another day, another badge," he said, suddenly happy, holding his newest badge up so it would reflect the sunlight. The rainfall-shaped badge seemed almost alive, glowing with a watery energy that a real storm would envy.

"That was an awesome battle, Ash." Max commented. "Misty had a really powerful team!"

Misty smiled warmly. "Aw, thanks Max!" The kid flushed and lowered his eyes, muttering something indistinct.

"Yeah, but Pikachu and Grovyle handled it just fine." Ash commented.

"You _lost_, Ash. Won't you ever admit that a gym battle was actually _challenging_?" Misty asked, annoyed with Ash's constant overconfidence. Sometimes it was like he hadn't aged since that first time she met him.

"Why should I if they never are?"

"I know quite a few gym leaders that would contradict you on that statement, Ash. Myself included." Misty challenged.

"Name five." Ash dared his friend.

"Easy: Brock; Sabrina; Erika; me; me." Misty proclaimed.

Ash sweatdropped. "Okay…so I have lost once in a while…but not always! And I didn't lose to you!"

"Right…you just didn't win. Just like you didn't win against Brock, or Sabrina, or Erika…"

"Oh, be quiet!"

"Why should I?"

"…because!"

"Because you hate it when you're wrong?"

"No!"

"Of course you do!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Brock sighed nostalgically, watching Ash and Misty argue loudly and annoyingly. "It's good to have them back together and back to normal, isn't it?"

"Pika…" Pikachu nodded, its ears flopping.

Togetic shook its head, remembering similar scenarios from before it had evolved. "Toge tic…" What exciting times those had been…

May and Max just sweatdropped.

"If you say so, Brock…" Max said, watching Ash and Misty start to get violent.

May noticed Ash blush and run off when he got too close to Misty. "…if you say so…"

**---**

The picture was fuzzy, but that was to be expected—the signal wasn't at its best. Sound was low quality, but good enough to hear the voice he despised so much.

"Hey, does someone hear that beeping?" His heart stilled for a moment—had they found his equipment so quickly? Curse the mechanical noise the faulty equipment made! Fingers flew across the keyboard as he quickly altered the recorder's programming, so as to silence it. If there was one thing he was thankful for in this accursed second life, it was that he had the chance to learn how to live in it, unlike the despised ones. They would be completely dependent on their hosts' knowledge.

He would be free of such attachments; he knew enough to live in the body without such _worthless_ baggage.

"…maybe something's wrong with the Pokénav?" He paused. This could play to his advantage…quickly altering the program to begin on a signal from a single key, he sat back until the moment would come.

The small boy bent down and pulled the yellow colored object out of his pack. "If you're sure…" He held a trembling finger over the Enter key, waiting. The boy popped open the battery case and he pressed the key quickly, just as the boy pulled out a battery.

Vision was gone; one of them most likely had their hand closed around the lens. Sound was fine, though.

"…I guess that was it. I'll find some new batteries and replace it so we can find our way around."

"We certainly need help like that, don't we boys?"

"I'll have you know I haven't gotten lost _once _since we last saw each other."

A snort. "Of course not; fifteen times, right?"

"No…that was him."

"Hey! You got us lost too, ya know!"

A sigh. "Boys?"

"Boys."

Light appeared on screen, then the lens refocused as the one boy smiled into the lens fondly. Another face appeared; red hair.

"Why are you keeping that one? You already have eight. And shouldn't you put that in your case?"

Brown hair appeared before black-haired could argue. "She's right, you know. You might lose it if you keep it out—or Team Rocket might try and steal it, like they do Ribbons."

The first face smiled warmly at brown hair. "Yeah, I think the case was built to fit more that eight. Hold this?" The reddish-faced, brown head accepted the camera as the first face opened up his pack and pulled out a narrow black case. He opened it up and took the spy equipment from the brown haired girl. Vision was lost yet again as the case closed on the camera, leaving it in the dark. Knowing it wouldn't be opened for awhile, he turned off the camera, so as to not waste the energy. Sound was muffled, but still there.

"Nice job getting that."

"Thanks, man."

"It was so _awesome_!"

"He _lost_! What's so awesome about that?"

"That, in the end, I still won."

"Ooh, you are so pigheaded, so…so…ugh!"

"Finally run out of names for me, Mist?"

"Just you wait, Ash Ketchum! Once I get my bike from you, it's straight to Cerulean for me!"

Silence.

The case was being placed back in the pack, he realized. Maybe he wouldn't be able to hear after all? Was all this a waste of time and effort?

Then the voices came back at full force, and he smiled for the first time in over five hundred years.

He would have his revenge, whether the despised ones knew it or not.

---

**Fanfic reading suggestion of the chapter:**

"**Cavern of a Million Colors," by Eeveebeth Fejvu.**

Official description:

A novel. A mythical cave doesn't seem like such a bad place to get trapped in, especially with your best friend. However, when a frightening occurrence happens to Ash & Misty, will Brock, May, and Max be able to help get them out of there... alive? AAML

An excellent story; very long chapters and excellent storyline twisted off of a moment in a famous Kanto episode. I'll let you read any more of it for yourself.

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**Reviews!**

**Ri2**: Right…Misty went through a list given to her by Ash's Pokédex, as I recall. I had a feeling you meant Mizuna. Yes, yes, I know. I have a more specific outline on paper and some scenes written out, but I still need to pull it all together. I figured I should finish this off and would then have less to do (though I still have a lot to do anyway --').

Yes, very strange. I guess it will never be explained. ;P Yes, Togepi winned, and Meowth is fully conscious of its actions and whatnot. That's very possible, but it might not be. Looking back, that's very likely, as Meowth quite willingly gave Togepi to the Boss ("Battle for the Badge"). Oh, well. It works with this plot, so I'm going with it. Who knows? It learned something; who can say Meowth can't learn _anything_, anyway? Why? Another mystery yet to be solved…evolution indeed!

Probably; yes, very much so; too much indeed; if you say so (--'); it will be, soon enough (not soon enough for you, I'm sure); totally is; not necessarily in this order.

Aw, don't feel bad; he was in Florida when those chapters were posted, so I was responding to two reviews, not one. -pats on head- Don't worry; you're still the longest review-giving reviewer I have.

I hope you like this ending I added; I have a feeling it will reveal more to you as to what is up'n'coming and allow you to predict the story. And I just liked the danger twisting away from the innocent, happy ending I had before.

**Soft Flame Matthias**: I'm glad you approved of last chapter's tension. It doesn't get much better than that in this one. Ah, a road trip. That explains it all so well…

So very true. The end to innocence and the beginning of maturity…sort of. Next, however, must come acceptance. And now you know who's behind the door—good for you!

o.O People actually _read_ these things…besides me, I mean? I never knew. -feels silly- And Ri2 was just being a sore loser…he just wants to have the longest response every time. Last chapter you claimed that title, so he decided to act his age. (;P to Ri2 if he's reading this)

And…I'd be happy to read what next you write, and what you have written, the moment I can breathe away from writing and schoolwork and other readings. Oy, the pain of high school; it sucks the creativity right out of you until you have no time to mark it down somewhere. --

**dbzgtfan2004**: Thanks so much for your kind review! I greatly appreciate such kind comments from a reader, especially a new one. I could go on and on in my gratitude, but I think you get the idea…I hope you enjoy this last chapter and the stories planned for the future.

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For your information, and possible help from any confusion:

The "He" and "His" placed around in this last section were meant to be in the "small caps" style of font to make "Him" distinctly different from the pronoun "he," as I am not yet ready to reveal "His" name. However, neither ff DOT net, nor my other site of choice, supports "small caps," so I left it in sentence form. If it confuses you, I'm sorry.

**---**

**Attention!**

Writers of fanfiction DOT net, listen to me! A petition has been created to allow us the right to respond to reviews again (though I do it anyway). Please, sign the petition so we may be one step closer to our goal of 200 signatures; the rule may be revoked and our communications to readers reopened!

The webpage is: http COLON / www DOT petitionspot DOT com / petitions / reviewrule.

My eternal gratitude if you sign!

See you at the next part of this trilogy (which I still have not named): Prophecies of the Summoned!

gladdecease


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